


Morality

by Hawkerin



Series: Family Timelines [9]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2018-09-14 15:56:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9190454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkerin/pseuds/Hawkerin
Summary: Part of the Family Timelines series.  The Doctor has just regenerated again, along with his son.  Rose has yet another Doctor to learn to love and live with.





	1. Deep Breath - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Finally posting this next story in the increasingly long series... unfortunately, my beta thedoctormulder, is currently without internet access. So, this has not been read or edited by anyone but me. I apologize for any horrible typos. If anyone is actually still reading this series, and would like to help me out with it, you can contact me to discuss it.

Rose, River, and Clara materialized on the bank of the River, right next to the TARDIS.  She looked a little banged up and it worried Rose considerably.  They noticed Jenny, Vastra, and Strax running over, confirming that it was Victorian London, but didn’t explain the dinosaur.

 

Clara wasted no time and ran over to the door of the TARDIS and knocked.  The Doctor opened it for a moment and shushed her before shutting it firmly again.

 

“Doctor? Come out of there,” Rose scolded.

 

“I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I managed to give it the slip,” he whispered to them when he opened the door again and was abruptly pushed outside by Jamie.

 

“Sleepy?” the Doctor questioned, looking at Strax.

 

“Sir?”

 

“Bashful? Sneezy? Dopey?” he continued and finally grinned when he settled on, “Grumpy.”

 

Rose giggled, maybe she would like his new personality.  She was a bit worried by the continued confusion she felt from him and wondered if the tea that they’d given him earlier wasn’t enough.  She watched as he examined the faces of the new people around him.

 

“Oh, you two. The green one and the not-green one,” he said to Jenny and Vastra. “Or it could be the other way round, I mustn't prejudge.”

 

“The orangy one, though he wasn’t orangy before.  I wanted to be orangy.  He goes with the curly one and the, er, asking questions one,” he rambled as he seemed to be trying to introduce Jamie, River, and Clara.

 

“Oh! And this is my pink and yellow girl!  Where did you go? I was looking for you and then I got chased by a dinosaur,” he said, moving back to Rose’s side and grasping her hand again.  He looked confusedly at his own hand as he compared the two.

 

“I’m Clara, granddad.  And that’s Rose, your wife?” she told him.

 

“Well, it might be Clara. Might not be. It's a lottery. Rose is a pretty name.  I think I like that,” he answered.

 

Everyone jumped when the dinosaur roared behind them.

 

“Oi, big man, shut it. Oh, you've got a dinosaur too. Big woman, sorry,” the Doctor shouted.

 

“Jamie, what happened?” Rose asked.

 

“By the time I got to the console room, he was already outside.  When he ran back in, he was shouting about a dinosaur. So, I piloted us away from there, but I guess she picked up the TARDIS in her mouth before I could dematerialize and ended up bringing her with us,” Jamie explained.

 

“Well, we need to get her back home.  She certainly can’t stay here,” Rose insisted.

 

“I'm not flirting, by the way,” the Doctor shouted to the dinosaur.  “I only do that with the pink and yellow one.  She turns more pink when I do that.”

 

“My name is Rose, love.  Do you remember?  Would you like some more tea to get your head cleared up?” she suggested.

 

“Tea? No, that’s the stripy one.  The sort of brown one, you said.  Am I still brown?  He got to be orange.  I’ve never been orange.”

 

“No, sweetheart.  Bit grey this time, I’m afraid,” Rose told him.

 

The Tyrannosaurus roared again and the Doctor nodded at her before turning back to the others and telling them, “Reduce the frequency.”

 

“I'm sorry?” Clara asked.

 

“That’s what the dinosaur is asking,” Jamie clarified.  “The shield you set up, Jenny.  She doesn’t like it.  I’m afraid it’ll have to stay though, dad, until we can get her out of here.”

“You're giving her a headache. My lady friend. Just an expression, don't get any ideas,” he added to the dinosaur.

 

“How do you know?” Strax wondered.

 

“Come on, Clara. You know that I speak dinosaur,” he answered.

 

“He's not Clara. I'm Clara,” she complained, clearly distraught by how confused he was.

 

“Well, you're very similar heights. Maybe you should wear labels?” he suggested.

 

“Doctor, how about you and I go take a break for a little bit, yeah?  We’ll let Jamie and River take your lady friend back home, where she won’t have a headache anymore,” Rose said, taking his arm to lead him toward the road.  

 

“That’s the Doctor?” Jenny asked.

 

“Yeah, he just regenerated. What should I do, gran?” Clara questioned.

 

“Stay with me, love.  You two know how to take care of her?” Rose asked over her shoulder.

 

“No problem, mum.  We’ll be back in no time,” Jamie answered.

 

Back at Vastra and Jenny’s house, Rose had managed to change the Doctor into a long night shirt, rather than the suit he had been wearing in his last incarnation.  She knew that he would want to take some time choosing his new clothes later, but Jamie and River had taken the TARDIS for now.  There would be plenty of time for that after he was thinking more clearly.

 

“It's simply misunderstandable to me,” he argued. “I don't know what it is. Who invented this room? It doesn't make sense. Look, it's only got a bed in it. Why is there only a bed in it?”

 

“Because it's a bed room. It's for sleeping in,” Clara told him as she entered the room to try and help her grandmother get him to lie down again.

 

“Okay, what do you do when you're awake?” he asked.

 

Rose gave him a teasing grin as she began, “Well…”

 

“You leave the room,” Jenny interrupted.

 

“So you've got a whole room for not being awake in. But what's the point? You're just missing the room. And don't look in that mirror. It's absolutely furious.”

 

Rose shook her head and chuckled at him.  It was taking forever for this confusion to pass and she wondered if it might have been better for them to have stayed on Trenzalore, near the Eye of Harmony and the other Time Lords that they had rescued from Gallifrey.

 

“Granddad, please. You have to lie down. You keep passing out,” Clara insisted.

 

“Well, of course I keep passing out. There's all these beds. Why do you keep talking like that? What's gone wrong with your accent?” he questioned.

 

“Nothing's wrong with her accent,” Jenny told him.

 

“You sound the same. It's spreading. You all sound all English. Now you've all developed a fault.”

 

“How are we supposed to sound, love?” Rose wondered and he looked at her confusedly.

 

“You’re perfect.  You’re supposed to sound that way,” he said apparently deciding that his current train of thought didn’t apply to her.

 

“Doctor, I need your help with something,” Vastra interrupted, putting on a Scottish accent to match his.

 

“Finally, someone who can talk properly,” he sighed.

 

“I'm having difficulty sleeping,” Vastra told him.

 

“Oh? Oh, well, I wouldn't bother with that, I never bother with sleep, and I just do standy-up catnaps,” he laughed.

 

“Oh really, how interesting. And when do you do those?” Vastra continued, glad to be getting through to him somewhat.

 

“Well, generally whenever anyone else starts talking. I like to skip ahead to my bits. It saves time,” he replied cockily.

 

“Save me time, Doctor. Project an image of perfect sleep into the centre of my mind,” Vastra requested.

 

“What, do you want a psychic link with me? She might not like that,” he argued.

 

“It’s ok, love, I trust her,” Rose assured him, catching on to what Vastra had in mind.

 

“The size of my brain, it would be like dropping a piano on you.”

 

“Be gentle, then,” Vastra said, continuing her Scottish accent for his sake.

 

“I'll try. Brace yourself. Piano.” He placed his fingers on her temples and she matched his position.  As Vastra blocked his telepathic message and reflected it back at him, he fell back onto the bed, sound asleep.

 

“I love monkeys. They're so funny,” Vastra chuckled as Rose tucked her husband under the covers.

 

“Oh, I see. So people are monkeys now, are they?” Jenny grumbled.

 

“No, dear. People are apes. Men are monkeys.”

 

“There are times that I almost agree with you about that,” Rose sighed.  “Let’s leave him to sleep off his regeneration sickness for a bit, yeah?”

 

They all went down to the sitting room to wait for Jamie and River’s return while the Doctor slept.

 

“So what do we do? How do we fix him?” Clara asked worriedly.

 

“He’ll be fine, sweetheart.  Do you remember anything from when you regenerated?” Rose answered.

 

“Not really.  Mum said something about making soufflées,” she mumbled.

 

“I’ve never known him to be so confused, but the first time I saw him regenerate, he was asleep for almost two days.  The last one wasn’t too bad for him.  Worse for the TARDIS really.  We just have to keep him safe and wait for everything to settle in,” Rose assured her.

 

“But dad seemed alright almost right away,” she argued.

 

“Your dad did seem alright.  The Doctor told me just before the first time I saw it, that regeneration is a bit dodgy.  He said you never know what you’re going to end up with.  Even admitted later on that it’s possible to change sex!  Not sure what I’d do if he ended up as a woman, but I suppose we’d figure it out.”  Rose winked at Jenny, making the girl blush a bit.

 

“Just not used to granddad looking old like that,” Clara sighed.

 

“It didn’t seem to bother you when we met the other Doctors.  The one right after the war looked older too.  Not quite as much as this face,” Rose reasoned.

 

“Yes, but I guess it was different when the one I was used to was still around,” she admitted.

 

“Clara, it was hard for us too when you regenerated.  I’ve dealt with it more than any of you, I guess, since this is the fourth version I’ve known. Well, fifth, if you count the one we met for a little while.  It’ll be hard to get used to the changes in your dad too, but we’ll get through it.  The people that we know and love are still in there.  Just the packaging has changed, sweetheart.”  Rose gave her a hug as they sat together on the loveseat.

 

They had barely started their tea when Rose gasped and glanced around as if looking for something.

 

“What is it?” Jenny asked worriedly.

 

“The Doctor.  He’s awake again and just ran off somewhere,” Rose told them, rushing to grab a coat from the hooks by the door before going after him.

 

*************************************

 

He woke with a start. She wasn’t here again, the pink and, no Rose.  She said her name was Rose.  That seemed right.  But she wasn’t here, just like the last time.  If he didn’t find her, she would end up in another universe.  The one with the big floaty things in the sky.  He started searching the room carefully.  She had been here, but she wasn’t now.  He found a piece of chalk beneath the radiator and started using it to draw out the calculations that he had worked on centuries ago.  Algorithms that would break through the barrier between them to bring her back.  If she was gone, he might need them now.  No, she was still here somewhere.  He could smell her.  But where?

 

Jumping to his feet, he moved across the room to look for her and stopped. “Door. Boring. Not me,” he decided and moved to the window instead.  Throwing it open, he smiled and took in a deep breath of the crisp air.  “Me.”

 

He began his search by jumping across the snowy rooftops, but he couldn’t seem to catch Rose’s scent again.  There was something.  A tingle in the back of his head that seemed to be her, but he couldn’t find her.  The Doctor’s next jump landed him in a tree, hanging precariously upside down.

 

“Argh. Argh. Oh,” he cried and came face to face with a horse. “Halt. Sorry, I'm going to have to relieve you of your pet.”

 

“You're what?” the man in the carriage behind the horse questioned incredulously.

 

“Shut up, I was talking to the horse.”

 

He jumped down onto its back and used the sonic that he had found on the nightstand before leaving the room with the bed in it to release the horse from the carriage. He instructed the creature, “Forwards.”

 

He thought he could feel something now.  She was close, though he didn’t know where or how he knew that.  The Doctor also thought he could tell that she was afraid? He didn’t want her to be afraid.  No.  He had to do something to make her not afraid anymore.  Anything.  What if she was about to be taken away again?  Was that why she was afraid?

 

_ “Stop!” _ he suddenly heard in his mind.  

 

It was loud and jarring, and it was HER! He pulled the horse to a stop and looked around frantically.  Behind him, another carriage approached and Rose stepped out, the fear he had felt from her turning to relief.

 

“There you are!  I couldn’t find you.  I couldn’t let you be gone again,” he told her frantically as he fell ungracefully from the back of the horse and ran into her arms.

 

“You had me so worried, Doctor,” she scolded.  “Please don’t run off like that again.  If you can’t find me, you can call to me in my mind.  Do you remember how to do that?”

 

He looked at her confusedly, as if concentrating on grasping the thoughts she needed him to remember.  His new eyebrows really were something, all furrowed like that.

 

“Just stay close to me, ok?” she suggested and he nodded in response, clinging to her hand.

  
They all climbed back into the carriage and returned to Vastra’s house to discuss the current mystery that they had been trying to solve.  Perhaps dealing with some sort of catastrophe would help the Doctor get back to normal.


	2. Deep Breath - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight delay. Here's the next part of Deep Breath. Thanks to dannicabbage on ao3 for reading it over for me!

The Doctor sat next to Rose and studied her as she listened to Vastra’s explanation of a recent series of murders in the area.  Cases that seemed to be spontaneous combustion, but they were quite sure had been killed by someone or thing.  

 

“So, we need to find out who or what is causing it.  Anything suspicious in the area?” Rose questioned.

 

“We haven’t had any luck with that so far,” Jenny admitted.

 

“Alright.  Well, we can all go investigate a bit more in the morning.  For now, why don’t we all get some rest?” Rose suggested, knowing that Jenny, Vastra, and Strax had to be tired, and the Doctor still wasn’t quite himself.  If she stayed with him this time, maybe he would relax enough to sleep off the confusion.

 

Curled up next to him in the bedroom where he had been before, Rose stroked his hair and thought about everything that had happened recently.  She could feel her husband’s whirling thoughts, even as he slept, and she wondered how long it would take for him to settle back into the brilliant man that she knew and loved.

 

She was used to the idea now that he would change, but his underlying thoughts, beliefs, and morality remained the same.  There were certain constants that she had seen in every version of the Doctor that she’d met.  She often wondered what his younger versions were like; the ones before the Time War.  Perhaps one day, she would meet one of them.  For now, she had this new Doctor to learn about.  His accent was interesting and even in his confused state, he was already flirting with her.  His worry about her disappearing was a bit concerning.  Their separation was centuries ago, but still seemed to worry him.

 

Rose gave her husband some telepathic caresses to try and calm him down a bit.  With him so unfocused, their connection was difficult to access.  It was like trying to listen to the radio when you weren’t quite on the right frequency.  She had managed to get through to him a bit earlier, but needed him to help with the connection on his end as well.

 

She was also a bit concerned that Jamie and River hadn’t returned yet.  The TARDIS did have a bit of a tendency to nudge the coordinates to where she felt she needed to be though, so perhaps she felt it was best if the Doctor couldn’t run off through time and space again.

 

Rose dozed off for a bit, despite trying to stay awake to keep an eye on the Doctor.  She was awoken by his sudden thrashing beside her.  Obviously in the grips of a nightmare, she held him tightly and called to him urgently, “Doctor! Doctor, you’ve got to wake up, love.  I’m here!”

 

His eyes snapped open, filled with panic until he finally focused on Rose’s face.  His breathing slowed at he grasped her tightly against his chest. “You’re here,” he gasped over and over again, as if not believing that she could possibly be with him.

 

“Let’s get dressed and go investigating, Doctor,” Rose suggested.

 

All he had to wear was the suit that his previous incarnation had chosen for the time being.  It fit him well enough, but he grumbled about wearing it and refused to put on the bow tie that he had been so fond of before.  Rose assured him that they could find him something better as soon as Jamie got back with the TARDIS.

 

\------

 

Clara got dressed in one of the dresses she had worn when she was living here before her regeneration.  She had to adjust a few things due to her change in size, but it fit, more or less.  She didn’t find her grandparents in the bedroom where they had slept last night and headed downstairs to look for them.  As she was descending the stairs, Jenny was on her way up.

 

“Jenny,” she greeted her.

 

“Ah, good morning, Clara.”

 

“Morning. Er, so, have you seen my grandparents this morning?” she wondered.

 

“No, can’t say that I have. Meanwhile, Madam Vastra is slightly occupied by the Conk-Singleton forgery case, and is having the Camberwell child poisoner for dinner,” Jenny warned.

 

“For dinner?” Clara questioned, wondering why she would want a criminal as a guest.

 

“After she's finished interrogating him. Probably best to stay out the larder. It'll get a bit noisy in there later.”

 

“Oh,” Clara acknowledged, realising what she meant.

 

Strax hadn’t seen the Doctor and Rose either, so she decided to head out into the city to look for them herself.  At least this time, the Doctor had his wife with him to keep him out of trouble.  Oh, that was a ridiculous thought, her gran was known to be even more jeopardy friendly than the Doctor himself.

 

\-------

 

The Doctor and Rose were walking arm in arm down the street, watching for anything suspicious about.  He seemed to still be getting used to the length of his legs and stride compared to hers.  It made their walk a bit awkward, but Rose knew that he would get there eventually.

 

**“** Bitey. The air, it's bitey. It's wet, and bitey,” he said.

 

“Yeah, it’s definitely cold today,” Rose corrected.

 

“That's right. It's cold. It's cold, I knew it was a thing. I need um, I need a big, long scarf. No, no, move on from that. Looked stupid. Er, have you seen this face before?” he rambled as he stopped to stare at his reflection in a shop window.

 

“No, I haven’t, love,” Rose replied.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“I haven’t, but you might have,” she assured him.

 

“It's funny, because I'm sure that I have. You know, I never know where the faces come from. They just pop up. Zap. Faces like this one. Come on, look at it, have a look, come on, look, look, look,” he insisted, pulling her next to him to look in the window. “Look, it's covered in lines. But I didn't do the frowning. Who frowned me this face? Do you ever look in the mirror and think I've seen that face before?”

 

“Yes, love.  Everyday,” Rose laughed.

 

“Oh, yes, yes, yes. Fair enough. Good point. My face is fresh on, though.”

 

“It certainly is.  It’s a very handsome face, Doctor.  Distinguished, I’d say,” Rose told him.

 

“Why this one? Why did I choose this face? It's like I'm trying to tell myself something. Like I'm trying to make a point. But what is so important that I can't just tell myself what I'm thinking?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“I don’t know, love. Can you think of when or where you might have seen it? Who you were with? That might help us figure it out,” Rose prompted.

 

“I can’t… loud. The loud one,” he told her.

 

“Donna?” Rose suggested.

 

“Yes.  Loud and ginger.  She was there,” he agreed, staring at his reflection again. 

 

“We can ask her about it when we go back to visit.”

 

“I don’t know if I like it. Well, it's all right up until the eyebrows. Then it just goes haywire. Look at the eyebrows. These are attack eyebrows. You could take bottle tops off with these,” he complained, making Rose laugh. “They're cross. They're crosser than the rest of my face. They're independently cross. They probably want to cede from the rest of my face and set up their own independent state of eyebrows. That's Scot. I am Scottish. I've gone Scottish?”

 

“Definitely. You gonna tell me that lots of planets have a Scotland now?” Rose teased.

 

“Oh no, that's good. Oh. It's good I'm Scottish. I'm Scottish. I am Scottish. I can complain about things, I can really complain about things,” he said, finally smiling.

 

“No big news there, but given your cross eyebrows, people might take it a bit more seriously. And I'm sure Amy will love it,” Rose reasoned.

 

“No, wait. Shut up, shut up. Shut up. I missed something. It was here, it was here. It was. What was it I saw? What did I see?” he rambled rudely as he dug through the discarded newspapers in a nearby alley.  “This is what I saw. Spontaneous combustion.”

 

Rose read over the old article which detailed the fourth case of spontaneous human combustion. They had been trying to follow the lead that Vastra had given them about this. There had been nine in total now, but they were trying to find the right area to search.  Pulling out her sonic, Rose added the coordinates of where this one happened to the information they had on the others and decided that they should probably call Clara to join them, now that they'd narrowed it down.

 

They sat in a booth at a restaurant named Mancini’s.  There was something odd about the patrons around them, but they tried to look casual, scanning the menu, as they waited for Clara to join them.

 

_ “Doctor, do you notice something odd about these people?” _ Rose asked him silently, trying to urge him back into using their bond properly.

 

He glanced up at her sharply, as if the telepathic message had surprised him greatly, but his eyebrows furrowed as he actually processed her question.  Without moving his head, his eyes scanned the room, scrutinizing everything for the details that Rose had considered out of place.

 

_ “I think we’ve found the right place,” _ he replied.

 

“You two couldn’t have waited for me to join you this morning? Didn’t know where you’d run off to,” Clara grumbled as she joined them.

 

“Sorry, sweetheart, he was having trouble sleeping.  I thought a bit of supervised exploring might help him,” Rose apologized.

 

“This could be a trap,” the Doctor whispered.

 

“I’m not imagining things then?” Rose responded.

 

He shook his head, then reached over to pluck a hair off of Clara’s head.

 

“Oi! What was that for?” she protested.

 

“Mine’s too short and I didn’t want to hurt Rose. I'm trying to measure the air disturbance in the room,” he told her.

 

“What for?” she wondered, knowing that her grandparents always had a reason for their slightly odd behaviour.

 

Holding the strand of hair slightly beneath the table, he dropped it and watched as it fell downward, without a single draft to disturb its descent.

 

“And what does that mean exactly?” Clara asked.

 

“There is something extremely wrong with everybody else in this room.”

 

“Mmm. Basically, don't you always think that?” Clara countered.

 

“He’s being serious, Clara.  As carefully as you can, watch them.  Something is very wrong here,” Rose insisted.

 

Heeding her gran’s warning, she cautiously glanced at the patrons sitting around them.  “They look fine to me. They're just eating.”

 

“Are they?” the Doctor pressed and she looked again.

 

They were moving their utensils, but none of them were actually eating anything.  Adding that information to the lack of air currents, Clara was starting to get the same unsettled feeling that her grandparents had about the place.

 

“Okay, no. No, they're not eating,” Clara acknowledged.

 

“Something else they're not doing. Breathing,” he whispered as he dropped one of his own gray hairs to the floor.

 

“What do we do?” Clara whispered, slightly panicked.

 

“Well, you don't want to eat, do you?” the Doctor answered.

 

“Hmm. Slightly lost my appetite. Ahem. How long before they notice that we're different?” Clara wondered.

 

“Not long,” he guessed.

 

“Anything we can do?” Clara asked.

 

“Well, you and I have a respiratory bypass and could easily hold our breaths for an hour or two.  Rose on the other hand, does not,” he said, taking his wife’s hand protectively.

 

“We could just casually stroll out of here, like we've changed our minds,” Clara suggested.

 

“Happens all the time,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Ha. Course it does,” Clara beamed, happy that her suggestion seemed to be a good one.

 

As the trio stood from their table, however, all of the others stopped what they were doing and stared at them.  As they tried to move toward the door, all of the diners moved to stop them.  

 

“Might be best to try and blend in for now, yeah? We were looking for the source of the problem after all,” Rose interjected and pulled them back to the table.

 

As soon as they were all seated again, the other patrons sat back at their tables and continued their charade just as before.

 

“What are they?” Clara whispered to her granddad.

 

“I don't know. But don't worry, because that's not the question. The question is, what is this restaurant?” he replied.

 

“Okay, what is this restaurant?” Clara asked obligingly.

 

“I don't know,” he admitted.

 

They all tried looking at the menus in front of them nervously.  They weren’t quite sure what was going on, or what to expect to happen next.  A waiter appeared at the table and stared at them.

 

“Don’t suppose you have any chips?” Rose asked nervously.

 

The man looked at her suspiciously, but his attention immediately turned to the Doctor when he started speaking,  “Er, no sausages? Do you? And there's no pictures either. Do you have a children's menu?”

 

The waiter held up some kind of scanning device and shone a green light over the Doctor.  He stood there a moment, as if processing the results.

 

“Any specials?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Liver,” he replied.

 

“I don't like liver,” the Doctor protested.

 

“Spleen. Brain stem. Eyes,” the waiter continued.

 

“Mmm. Is there a lot of demand for those?” Clara questioned.

 

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s listing the specials,” Rose told her.

 

“No, I think we’ve just been put on the menu,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Lungs. Skin,” the waiter added to his growing list.

 

“Excuse me,” the Doctor said as he reached up to pull the skin off of the waiter’s face, revealing a wire mesh beneath that was supporting it.

 

“Okay. Robot in a mask,” Clara commented.

 

“Don’t think it’s just a mask, sweetheart,” Rose told her, cringing at the implications of the waiter’s list.

 

“It's a face,” the Doctor said, bluntly.

 

“Ugh! Like a real one?” Clara gasped, catching on to what her gran was saying.

 

“Yes,” the robotic waiter interrupted.

 

“Yes, what?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Yes, we have a children's menu,” it replied, just as metal restraints popped out of the bench where they were sitting and held them tightly in place.

 

The seat then descended into the floor and down to a lower level, once again making the restaurant above appear to be normal to anyone that happened to stumble inside.

 

“You've got to admire their efficiency,” the Doctor commented, admiring the mechanisms involved in the setup.

 

“Is it okay if I don't?” Clara grumbled.

 

“Yeah, I’ve had nightmares like this,” Rose added, prompting her husband to take her hand in his own.

 

Their mode of transport came to a stop with a bit of a jolt.  There were several of the robot-people standing at the edges of the room and another was seated in the centre, not looking in their direction.  The restraints had not released and the Doctor had no patience for inactivity.

 

**“** Hello? Hello, are you the manager? I demand to speak to the manager,” he shouted at the immobile man.

 

“This is not a real restaurant, is it?” Clara asked.

 

“Definitely not,” Rose answered.

 

“It's more a sort of automated organ collection station for the unwary diner. Sweeney Todd without the pies,” he added.

 

“So where are we now?” Clara demanded, not particularly eager to have her organs collected.

 

“Factually? An ancient spaceship, probably buried for centuries. Functionally? A larder,” he told her.

 

“A spaceship? What gave you that impression?” Rose wondered.

 

“Resonance.  This place is contained, not connected to the ground, like a basement would be,” he answered, wriggling a bit to shift the sonic in his pocket.

 

“So why hasn't somebody come for us?” Clara wondered.

 

“We're alive.”

 

“We're alive in a larder.”

 

“Exactly. It's cheaper than freezing us,” he said and turned toward Rose, who stretched a bit to reach into his pocket from where she was held.

 

“There should be an easier way to do this, love,” Rose grumbled, but managed to pull it free.

 

“I’ll work on it,” he agreed.

 

Rose quickly used the sonic to release all three of them and handed it back to him.  They slowly passed by one of the robots, glancing at it nervously, but it didn’t move.

 

“Granddad?” Clara questioned.

 

“Dormant.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“I don't. I'm just hoping,” he admitted and led them away from it.

 

“Why would robots need organs? Burke and Hare from space?” Clara asked.

 

“No, but that's a good theory. Droids harvesting spare parts. That rings a bell,” he mumbled thoughtfully.

 

“You can’t seriously tell me that you don’t remember?” Rose growled.

 

“Oh. Could be something like that,” he answered, blushing at the memory.

 

“But that was thousands of years in the future, yeah? You said this had been buried for centuries,” Rose argued.

 

A closer examination of the robots prompted several of them to pursue them down the corridor, apparently rather put out to be losing their donors so soon.  The Doctor kept a firm grip on his wife’s hand as they ran through the maze of hallways, trying to lose them.

 

“Do we have a plan, love?” Rose gasped.

 

“Not dying.  And probably getting you out of here,” he replied.

 

“We’re not going to start all over with that nonsense, are we?” she protested.

 

“Clara and I can blend in by not breathing with this lot.  They’re stupid.  If you get out of here, you can get Vastra and the others to help us shut this thing down,” he explained, knowing how much his wife hated being sent away for her own safety.

 

There was a large doorway at the end of the hall that started to close as they approached it. He knew that he could use his abilities as a Time Lord to make it through just like he had to get through the fans on Platform One, but his only goal was to get Rose out of here.  The Doctor pushed her through the door quickly and allowed it to close tightly behind her.  At least it kept her from coming back immediately to argue with him about it.

 

He and Clara darted into the nearby, vacant alcoves and stood perfectly still as they engaged their respiratory bypass.  The robots that had been chasing them paused briefly as they walked by, but continued on their way.

 

By the time Rose came back with Jenny, Vastra, and Strax to help dismantle the whole operation, the Doctor had discovered that the droids were from the sister ship to the SS Madame du Pompadour, the SS Marie Antoinette.  They had somehow managed something even worse than the other ship had done and crashed the whole thing in the distant past.

 

After a bit of fighting, Rose eventually convinced the main control droid to shut the whole thing down.  There was no home for them to find in space and they had lost their original sense of purpose over the centuries.  He went on about a Promised Land for a while, but eventually conceded that they would be more likely to find it in death than their continued shadow of existence.

 

Knowing that it would be best not to expose Victorian London authorities to the technology found in the restaurant/space ship, Vastra arranged to have some offworld contacts come in to dismantle everything and salvage parts as payment for the work.

 

Rose, the Doctor, and Clara waited at Vastra’s house for Jamie and River to return with the TARDIS.  They were fairly sure that the ship herself was preventing them from coming back until the ordeal was over.  But they all smiled brightly in relief when they heard the engines of the ship landing in the courtyard.

 

“Sorry about the slight delay.  Don’t know what the old girl was doing,” Jamie told them as he exited the time ship.

 

“Right.  How was the test drive, River?” Rose asked knowingly as she wiped some lipstick off the side of her son’s mouth.

 

“Lovely, Rose.  Sorry for making you wait on yours,” River replied with a smirk.

 

“Way too much information.  Can we maybe get back to our usual travelling, without traumatizing me?” Clara complained and pushed passed them into the TARDIS.

 

“Right. Well, I think it might be a good idea to see how Romana and the others are doing on Trenzalore.  We left them without transport or really any way of contacting us.  And well,” the Doctor suggested.

 

“Of course, love.  You’re completely right.  We also didn’t really have a proper meeting with your family.  Your mum and brother are here, yeah?” Rose hadn’t even considered all of that in the face of what had happened.  She was so worried about her husband and son, and Christmas with her own family, that they had just abandoned them there.

 

“We’ll come with you,” Jamie assured them. “But let’s all get some rest first.  We can go back shortly after we left, after all.  No harm done.”

 

“Yes.  I’ll set her adrift in the vortex for a few hours, while we all take a break,” the Doctor agreed as Jamie and River went down the hall towards their room.

 

Rose surprised the Doctor slightly by wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.  She snuggled into his back as he froze in place, the hug feeling awkward in his new form.

 

“I don’t think I’m much of a hugger this time,” he told her.

 

“Oh. I’m- I’m sorry,” she mumbled and pulled away from her husband.

 

“No! No, I’m sorry, Rose.  Come here,” he said suddenly, pulling her back towards him, face to face.  “We’ll figure this out. I love you and I want you very much.”

 

The Doctor pulled her into a slow kiss, gently cupping her face in his hands as she melted against him.  She tentatively put her hands on his hips to steady herself and relaxed a little when he didn’t tense away from her touch.  She gasped when he suddenly picked her up and carried her down the hallway toward their bedroom.

 

“I can walk you know,” she told him.

 

“Of course you can.  But after taking such good care of me during that mess, I think you deserve a little pampering,” he chuckled.

 

“Mmm, no arguments from me,” Rose sighed, snuggling into his arms a little more.

 

He quickly tossed his boots and jacket aside, but abandoned any continued thoughts of undressing himself, in favour of stripping his wife.  She kept trying to unfasten his shirt buttons as he removed her many layers, but he swatted her hands aside and focused on kissing every inch of newly revealed skin.  Rose sighed happily at his attentions, but was wishing that she could explore his new body.  He had after all seen hers for centuries already.

 

“I want to see you,” Rose complained.

 

“Plenty of time for that later.  I need to taste you first,” he insisted, finally removing her knickers and licking his way down to her hip.

 

“You’ve tasted me thousands of times,” she sighed, but spread her legs wider for him.

 

“New tastebuds.  New tongue.  New senses,” he explained, kissing her sensitive inner thighs and sliding two long, cool fingers into her. He groaned at how wet she was already, his voice now a deep rumbling sound that was new to both of them.

 

“Doctor,” Rose gasped, tangling her fingers in his thick, grey hair.

 

“Yes, darling?” he asked between licks over her sensitive flesh.

 

“Don’t stop.  Never stop,” she sighed.

 

“I can’t guarantee that, I’m afraid.  You see, I have plans very shortly to replace these fingers with something a bit more substantial,” he told her as he curled his fingers against the spot that he knew would throw her over the edge very quickly.

 

With a happy squeal, Rose shuddered her release and he licked his fingers clean, while unfastening his trousers.  Rose was panting heavily on the bed as he finished undressing.  He admired the pink flush over her skin as she gazed back at him.  He didn’t give her much of a chance to stare at his new body before returning to her on the bed.  He was about to climb back on top of her, but quickly found himself on his back, with a very determined pink and yellow human straddling his legs.

 

“My turn,” she insisted, her mischievous smirk making him even harder than before.

 

Rose leaned over to kiss him, deeply.  Her hands were braced on his chest and she flexed her fingers, feeling the soft, curly hair that covered his chest.  Her last two Doctors had very little body hair and she hadn’t been sure if that was something to do with his species or just the way those particular bodies had been.  It wasn’t excessive on this new body, just a little more than she was used to.  She moved her kisses softly across his cheek and down his neck as she continued to explore.  The Doctor’s hands moved to her hips to help steady her above him.

 

“I’m sorry that I don’t look as young as you do this time,” he apologized, seeming a bit insecure about his appearance.

 

“Doctor, I love you.  That will never change.  It’s never been about your appearance.  I mean, I’ve always found you to be very handsome, but I still do.  You look older by human standards, but I know that you aren’t frail.  I meant it earlier when I said your new face is handsome.  More authoritative than your last one, yeah?” she assured him.

 

“Mmmm, is that something you’d like then?” he questioned playfully, one of his substantial eyebrows rising.

 

“Maybe,” she replied, her tongue peeking from the side of her smile.  “But later.  Right now, I think I need to do some tasting of my own.”


	3. Back to Trenzalore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, this one was a bit of a pain. Sorry if this part is a little boring, but you know, necessary things to get out of the way. Back to the adventures!

Several hours later, one could call it morning, Clara was sitting alone in the kitchen.  She had a large pot of tea steeping and was waiting rather impatiently for her toast.  She didn’t really blame her parents or grandparents for their flirtatious behaviour earlier.  It was jealousy and she knew it.  The likelihood of her finding someone that would live nearly as long as she would was slim.  Sure there were some more Time Lords back in the universe now, but if they were anything like her granddad had described, the chances of her having anything in common with them were negligible at best.

 

“Good morning, sweetheart,” River greeted cheerfully as she entered the kitchen in her robe and slippers.

 

“Morning, mum,” she answered, smearing jam on her toast.

 

“Oh, you’ve made tea! Thank you,” River said with a smile.

 

“I think we can do better than just toast today.  Let’s see if I’m still passable as a cook, eh?” James suggested as he pulled eggs, bacon, and tomatoes out of the refrigerator.

 

A few minutes later, the Doctor and Rose joined them, following the scent of cooking bacon.  The Doctor chuckled at something that Rose had said and she teased him playfully, “I think we might need to pull out a swear jar for you!”

 

“I think we’re safe from innocent ears as long as it stays in our bedroom,” he mumbled against her neck and tickled her sides.

 

Rose squealed and jumped away from him.

 

“Well, you two are as disgustingly cute as ever. I was hoping with the Doctor's more gruff exterior, we might get a break,” River interrupted.

 

“No matter how much I may shout at the rest of the universe, no one will ever question that I love my wife,” he countered.

 

After a quick breakfast, and a unanimous agreement that James was never allowed to cook for them again in this regeneration, everyone got dressed and met back in the console room for their trip back to Trenzalore.

 

“I used to be a brilliant cook,” James grumbled.

 

“Yeah, and I used to be able to make soufflés. Let's hope granddad can cook this time around or we're all going to go hungry,” Clara told her father.

 

“Nah, the TARDIS helps, and we can always go for intergalactic takeaway whenever we like,” Rose insisted as she helped her husband with the landing.

 

The Doctor and Rose exited the TARDIS first when they landed back on Trenzalore and were  almost immediately greeted by Andred.  The Doctor didn't know him well, but he had married the Doctor's former companion, Leela, many centuries ago.  Leela was a genetically modified human, but living on Gallifrey had extended her lifespan considerably.

 

“Andred. Sorry we left in a bit of a hurry earlier,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Lord Doctor, Lady Rose,” he replied in greeting with a formal bow. “Lady President Romana is currently in talks with the people of Trenzalore. I can take you to them.” 

 

Rose was a little surprised by Andred’s demeanour and the Doctor tensed, but held his wife's hand tightly as they followed.  James, River, and Clara followed as well, not quite sure what to make of all of this.

 

Romana was just exiting one of the larger buildings as they approached and she ran over to greet them. “Doctor! You've returned. I trust that you have recovered now?”

 

“Yes. Just fine, Romana. How are things going here? Sorry we left without really giving any of you a way out of here,” he told her.

 

“It's going well. They were colonists a long time ago. Several generations have lived here since then, but they are aware of space travel. They've been very welcoming to us,” she assured them.

 

“That's good. How are all of you adjusting?” Rose wondered.

 

“As well as can be expected, I suppose. The war was hard on all of us, and many of them seem to be trying to continue as if we were still in the council chambers on Gallifrey,” Romana sighed.

 

“I noticed that Andred has taken to calling you President again,” the Doctor pointed out.

 

“Yes. And I take no issue with leadership, but I hardly think that is an appropriate title for the highest ranking person among fifteen refugees.”

 

“Why don't we all have some tea? The people you trust most and us.  We can talk about your concerns and they can explain how they feel about it,” Rose suggested.

 

“I think that would be nice, though this planet seems to be lacking in tea selections,” Romana answered.

 

“I'll get some from the TARDIS, gran,” Clara interjected, happy to do something useful for the moment.

  
  


###########

 

Two hours later, the Doctor was standing outside, admiring the snow and taking slow, calming breaths.  Rose was doing admirably acting as a sort of advisor to the bickering Time Lords and Ladies.  Romana and his mother seemed to understand the changes that would have to be made.  Even Leela was trying to talk some sense into them from the perspective of all she had to do to fit into their society after marrying Andred, but the others did not want to leave behind the rules and ideals of the society they had lived in for centuries.  What was that they said about old dogs?

 

“Thought I might find you out here,” Clara said, startling him from his thoughts.

 

“There are many reasons why I ran away from Gallifrey, repeatedly.  You're hearing a good number of them in that room,” he admitted.

 

“Gran is doing a fair job of convincing them that fifteen Time Lords aren't the rulers of the universe,” she told him.

 

The Doctor scoffed, knowing just how forcefully Rose could bring a Time Lord down to size.  He wasn't sure how much they would respect her opinion though, given that she wasn't one of them.

 

“Granddad, can I ask you something?”

 

“Of course, Clara. What's on your mind?” 

 

“Will they accept us? Mum, dad, and me? I mean, none of us are really…”

 

“They'll have to, or they'll get no further help from me. You are my family and that makes you just as much a part of my species as they are. Gallifreyan genetics are dominant. They take over. So even though Rose is mostly human, and your mother was born human, your father and you are Gallifreyan.  I'm more worried about Rose and River in their eyes.  Or their opinion of me ‘polluting’ the gene pool with ‘inferior species’ or something,” he told her.

 

Clara surprised him by suddenly wrapping him in a tight hug.  He held his arms awkwardly away from her, still uncomfortable with hugs since his regeneration.

 

“Umm, Clara, I’m really not much of a hugger anymore,” he argued.

 

“Sorry, granddad, you don’t get a choice.”

 

_ “Could you come back and help us figure out where we could get parts for a planetary shield, TARDIS nursery, and looms? I'm not as confident in scavenging these things as you are, love,”  _ Rose called to him.

 

With a sigh, he wrapped an arm over Clara's shoulder and led her back inside.  “Once more, into the breech.”

 

One hour and twenty seven minutes later, the unofficial meeting was over and the Doctor had a comprehensive list of the various parts and materials that the Time Lords would need.  The people of Trenzalore had decided to stay on the planet, despite the changes that would occur to their biology due to the presence of the Eye of Harmony and the resulting gap that would be created into the time vortex from those forces.  The new Untempered Schism was already forming in the forest outside of the main village.

 

“We would love to have you come and meet my family on Earth,” Rose told the Doctor’s mother and Braxiatel.

 

“Is that strictly necessary?” Brax grumbled.

 

“Yes,” his mother insisted harshly.  “Thank you very much for the invitation, Rose.”

 

“And, not to be rude or anything, but how should I introduce you? I mean, I don’t know your name, ma’am,” Rose asked, embarrassed that she knew so much about her husband, but not his mother’s name.

 

“Oh, you may certainly call me mother.  But my name is roughly translated as Patience, for the sake of introductions,” she replied with a smile.

 

“Do I call you grandmother, then?” James questioned timidly.

 

“Have you not taught them Gallifreyan family relations, brother? Really-” Braxiatel began to chastise.

 

“Was there any need?  I was the only Time Lord left in the universe until he was born.  What possible use would there be to teach them a few hundred differentiations based on multiple political marriages, distant relatives and their relations with other political alliances, and so forth?  The only other family I ever thought that they would have was Rose’s family on Earth.  We have been using human terms for familial relationships,” the Doctor interrupted angrily.

 

“Calm down, love. Jamie guessed there might be a different term that she might be more comfortable with, that’s why he asked, yeah?” Rose said, the mediator in her taking over again.

 

“Grandmother will be just fine, James.  No need to concern yourself with anything else at this time,” Patience assured him.

 

“Come on then, everyone.  My family hasn’t even seen you since you regenerated, Doctor,” Rose urged all of them into the TARDIS.

 

“Just what I need, another slap from Jackie Tyler,” he grumbled, closing the door firmly behind them.

 

#####################

 

“How exactly is it that your family is human, Rose?  I can see from your timelines that you have already lived far longer than a human lifespan,” Braxiatel questioned.

 

“It’s a bit complicated, but the short version is, while trying to save him, I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, absorbed the time vortex, and bonded with the ship.  My life is sort of connected to hers now, so long as we aren’t separated or both of us hurt at the same time,” Rose explained.

 

“That’s not possible,” he protested.

 

“Yes, well, that’s my lovely wife in a nutshell,” the Doctor told him, smacking a kiss on Rose’s cheek as he moved around the console.

 

“Should I call and have them get everyone together before we get there, mum?” James asked.

 

“Sure, sweetheart.  River, would you like us to pick up your parents for this as well?” Rose wondered.

 

“It might be best to save that meeting for later.  If explanations about your extended lifespan are hard to take, mine might take even more explanation,” River replied.

 

“True.  Just make sure that they get Donna and Jack there, Jamie.  They are just as much family as the rest of them.”

 

They landed in their usual spot, outside of Pete and Jackie’s place.  Jackie had made it very clear to the Doctor that he was not allowed to land in her living room.  The day was bright and sunny as they walked down the sidewalk and the Doctor was gripping Rose’s hand tightly.  Their bracelets clicked together and she could feel his worry at not only how her family would react to his new incarnation, but also about their families meeting each other.

 

Patience and Braxiatel had both changed from their Gallifreyan robes into clothing more suitable for Earth from the wardrobe room.  The Doctor’s mother had opted for a conservative, grey pantsuit, with a cream blouse.  Brax wore charcoal slacks with a blue dress shirt and shiny black shoes.  Both walked with their heads held high as they followed the Doctor and Rose, their hands clasped behind them.

 

James, River, and Clara dashed ahead of the others to give them a bit of a heads up to their arrival.  They were also finding the formality a bit uncomfortable and weren’t quite sure just what Time Lord protocol would say about how they should walk in the little procession.

 

“Hello, gran,” James greeted as they entered.

 

“Gracious! Rose said you was ginger now.  You are Jamie, right?” Jackie gasped, taking in her grandson’s new appearance.  She had sort of gotten used to the idea after it had happened to the Doctor a couple of times and Clara as well.

 

“Yes, I’m Jamie.  They’re coming, we just wanted to make sure everything was alright here before they came up,” he told her as she hugged Clara and River.

 

“Well, that’s quite the improvement, young man,” Donna exclaimed as she came over to greet them as well.

 

“Thanks, Aunt Donna.  Taking a bit of getting used to, but I think I like it,” he responded with a smile.

 

“Me too,” River purred and gave Donna a wink.

 

“We’re here!” Rose called as she entered with the Doctor.

 

“Rose! Oh it’s been ages.  Where’s himself then?” Jackie shouted, running over to hug her daughter.

 

“I’m right here, Jackie.  Who else would be holding hands with her?” the Doctor grumbled.

 

“Oi! Oh, Rose, he’s even more rude than when he was in leather.”

 

“Stop it, mum,” Rose snapped, trying to avoid a bad first impression with the Doctor’s family.

 

“I can assure you, Mrs. Tyler, that he has always been rude,” Patience said as she entered.

 

“Who’s this, then?” Jackie asked.

 

“I’d like to introduce all of you to the Doctor’s mother, Patience, and his brother, Braxiatel.  This is my mother, Jackie.  That’s my dad, Pete. Our good friend, Donna.  And you remember Jack, I’m sure,” Rose announced nervously.

 

“Well, guess I should go put on a pot of tea for everyone,” Jackie responded, clearly taken aback by the idea of meeting relatives of her alien son-in-law.

 

“Don’t worry, gran, I’ve got it,” Clara told her and ran to hide in the kitchen.

 

Conversation was awkward to say the least, but Rose jumped in to keep things civil whenever her mother seemed like she might upset their guests.  Donna managed to pull the Doctor aside from the others for a moment when his mother was explaining the different houses on Gallifrey.

 

“Spaceman, why does this face look so familiar to me?  Have I met you like this before?” she demanded.

 

“I honestly don’t know, Donna.  I haven’t met you like this to my knowledge, but I’m finding this face familiar too.  I was sort of hoping that you’d remember where we’ve seen it before,” he admitted.

 

“Could we have met this you and not known?  Or do you pick your new face from someone you’ve met before?” she wondered.

 

“It has been known to happen.  My friend, Romana, once chose the face of a princess that we had met right before she regenerated.  I’ve never consciously tried to take on a particular form before, but I feel like this face is a sort of message to myself or something.  I wish I could remember where I’d seen it before.”

 

Donna mentally ran through all of her adventures with the Doctor, when she could still run with him.  It had been several years though since her encounter with Davros, so the faces in her memory were a bit blurry. “The hair was a bit different.  And he was scared. Pompeii! It was that bloke that we rescued with his family in Pompeii, Doctor,” she realized.

 

“I think you might be right.  Couldn’t have been me in the future.  He had a wife and children, and his wife certainly wasn’t Rose.  If I did choose his face as some kind of message to myself, I don’t know what the message is.  But at least you’ve helped me remember where I know it from,” he sighed.

 

The Doctor managed to excuse himself, his mother, and brother back to the TARDIS after the brief visit, Rose and the others promising to follow them shortly.  Rose almost immediately regretted staying behind, however, when her mother started complaining.

 

“Well, aren’t they all high and mighty.  One of the most respected houses on Gallifrey.  As if my little girl ain’t good enough for them,” Jackie ranted.

 

“Stop it.  Stop right now.  To be honest, I’m amazed you waited until they left before saying it, but I’ll not have you speaking that way about my husband’s family.  Especially in front of my son and his family.  Patience and Braxiatel were more than polite when they were here and never once said anything negative about you, your home, or our family.  I know that you have trouble wrapping your head around all the alien stuff in our lives, but just because their society was different, doesn’t mean they were talking down about yours.  Believe me, there are some other Time Lords that might have, most of them were right full of themselves, but not here and not today.” Rose was absolutely furious despite fully expecting this response.  She could feel the Doctor trying to calm her down telepathically, feeling his understanding at what Jackie had likely said.

 

Jackie pressed her lips together, clearly angry, but not wanting to have her daughter refuse to visit for several years again.  She and Rose had been so close when she was growing up, it was hard for her to accept that Rose was her own, independent person.  That she didn’t need her anymore.  Not coming up with an acceptable response, Jackie nodded and left the room.

 

Rose slumped as the tension from the argument released and Jamie ran over to give her a hug.  She clung to him tightly, accepting his love and support.

 

“You know she didn’t mean it, Rose.  That’s just the way she is,” Pete tried to assure her.

 

“I know all too well, dad.  Make sure they are expected for holidays.  We might be extending an invitation or two your way for any special events they have, so you might want to prepare her for the idea of visiting another planet too.”

 

“Come on, mum.  We’ll take them back home and go on an adventure.  I think you need to run,” Jamie suggested.

 

“Sounds like fun,” River agreed, taking Rose’s arm and leading her toward the door.


	4. Into the Dalek - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: My apologies for the delay in posting. This season is difficult for me to write, I'm finding. While I love Capaldi's Doctor, this was the season where I really went from just disliking Clara to loathing her... I'm trying to remedy that with the changes in relationships, but she isn't making it easy for me.

 

“Doctor, we’ve got a distress signal,” Rose told him worriedly as she checked the messages coming in.  “Daleks!”

 

A sound that resembled breaking glass came from his mouth at her statement.

 

“I thought you said we didn’t need a swear jar since that language wouldn’t be leaving the bedroom?” she teased despite the tense situation.

 

“No one on board but the two of us, love.  The whole ship could be our bedroom if we wanted,” he countered as he looked at the monitor over her shoulder and pinched her bum.

 

“Two people on board.  One of them is pretty badly injured, but we could probably patch him up,” Rose reported directing him back on topic.

 

“If we materialize around them, we can get them out of there before the Daleks destroy their little ship,” he suggested.

 

“Tricky to get them both, but I think I can manage it,” she answered and started putting in the coordinates.

 

“If there's a risk of only getting one, make sure it's the one that isn't injured,” he commented.

 

“What?!” she gasped, glaring at him.

 

“Triage. Prioritize your efforts to the patients that are most likely to survive. There's no point in going to all that effort and having both of them die,” he replied as if it should be obvious.

 

“We are saving them both, Doctor. End of story. Ready to materialize. Why don't you handle getting us in and back out while I greet our guests,” she suggested, knowing that he was the more experienced pilot and would probably only scare or upset the new people on board.

 

The girl was screaming for a moment, but stopped when she realized that their surroundings were suddenly quiet and still.  Opening her eyes, the young girl gasped and moved to check on the injured man next to her.

 

“Kai! Kai, can you hear me?” she pleaded, though he seemed to be unconscious.

 

“Hello, can I help you?” Rose asked softly.

 

The girl gasped and clutched him tighter, as if protecting him from whoever this stranger might be. She quickly pulled a handgun from her side and pointed it at Rose. “How? Who are you?”

 

“You'll probably feel a bit sick. Please, don't be,” the Doctor commented from the other side of the console.

 

“Doctor,” Rose scolded.  “Don’t mind him.  I have a medical scanner here, will you let me help him?”

 

The girl nodded warily, but kept her gun out as she watched Rose’s actions.  Rose quickly assessed his injuries and used the futuristic equipment they kept in the first aid kit to stabilise the young man quickly.  He was still unconscious, but not in danger of dying anymore.

 

“There now.  He’ll be alright in a bit, see,” Rose assured her, showing her the new scans of his condition.  “You called him Kai, what’s your name?”

 

“Journey,” she answered.

 

“Lovely name.  I’m Rose and that’s my husband, the Doctor over there.”

 

“How did we get here?”

 

“I materialised a time capsule exactly around you and saved your life one second before your ship exploded,” the Doctor informed her.

 

“We have to get back,” Journey said, suddenly tensing her grip on the gun in her hand.

 

“Hey, calm down.  We can get you wherever it is you need to be, but could you put that away, please?” Rose requested.

 

“I'm Lieutenant Journey Blue of the Combined Galactic Resistance. I demand you take me back to my command ship, the Aristotle, which is currently located-”

 

“No. Hey, not like that,” the Doctor interrupted, only now noticing the gun pointed at his wife and not appreciating the tone of the person that should be grateful for their rescue.

 

“You will take me back to my command ship, which is currently positioned-”

 

“No, no. Come on. Not like that. Not like that. Get it right,” he insisted.

 

Journey sighed and put her gun away before asking politely, “Will you take me back to my ship? Please?”

 

“That’s better,” Rose said with a smile.

 

“The Aristotle's the big fella parked in the asteroid belt, yeah?” the Doctor asked for confirmation as he set coordinates to land inside it.

 

“It's shielded,” Journey told him.

 

“More or less,” the Doctor conceded, but landed easily inside of it anyway.

 

Rose helped Journey lift Kai with his arms over their shoulders and take him to the door.  The Doctor preceded them to open it and they all walked out into a large and bustling area of the ship.  

 

Journey looked back at the TARDIS and gasped, “It's smaller on the outside.”

 

“It's a bit more exciting when you go the other way. This isn't a battleship. Medical insignia. It's a hospital,” the Doctor commented as he took in their surroundings.

 

“We don't need hospitals now. The Daleks don't leave any wounded, and we don't take any prisoners,” an older man commented as he confronted them with a group of armed soldiers.

 

“Yeah, well you’ve got a wounded man here, so you can drop the guns and come help us with him!  We just saved two of your people, a little gratitude would be nice,” Rose snapped at them.

 

“That's true, sir. They did,” Journey defended them.

 

A couple of the soldiers moved to take Kai from them and carried him off to see their only medically trained personnel.

 

“Thank you,” the officer responded brusquely.

 

“You're welcome. I wish I could've done more,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Then you should have.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“But you did save Journey and Kai, and for that I am personally grateful.”

 

“Well-” the Doctor began as he relaxed a little.

 

“However, the security of this base is absolute. So we're still going to kill you,” the man stated.

 

The Doctor immediately took Rose’s hand and positioned himself slightly between her and the guns still aimed at them.  “Oh, it's a roller coaster with you, isn't it?”

 

“Shoot them, bag them and throw them outside,” he ordered.

 

“No! Stop!” Journey shouted.

 

“I'm sorry. He might be a duplicate,” he argued.

 

“He's a doctor. And we have a patient, don't we, Uncle?” she insisted.

 

With a sigh, the older man nodded and started leading them down a nearby hallway.  Rose and the Doctor were curious as to what might be going on, and anything to do with the Daleks always had them worried.  

 

“Why does a hospital need a doctor?” the Doctor questioned, keeping a tight hold of Rose’s hand and always positioning himself between her and any of the soldiers.  He wasn’t hiding his distasteful glares at anyone near them that was carrying a weapon.

 

“The Aristotle wasn't always hidden. The Daleks got here before us,” Journey’s uncle replied.

 

“You don't like soldiers much, do you?” Journey asked.

 

“You don't need to be liked. You've got all the guns.”

 

“Not to mention, you keep pointing them at us,” Rose added.

 

They entered a laboratory which housed a large, clear cylinder with seats inside of it.  There were several complex looking computer stations attached to it and it immediately drew the Doctor’s attention.  “Wow! A moleculon nanoscaler.”

 

“You know what it does, then?” Journey realised.

 

“It miniaturises living matter. What's the medical application, though? Do you use it to shrink the surgeons so they can climb inside the patients?”

 

“Exactly,” the officer that had been escorting them confirmed.

 

“Fantastic idea for a movie. Terrible idea for a proctologist,” the Doctor responded, prompting a giggle from Rose. He winked at her, then scowled as he considered their plan. “Are you going to miniaturise me?”

 

“You're a doctor, aren't you?” he answered, opening a set of security doors nearby.  “And this is your patient.”

 

Any joviality that the Doctor and Rose might have had regarding jokes about microscopic doctors fell the moment they saw the ‘patient.’  A half broken Dalek sat restrained through the doors, its scratched eyepiece flickering a faint blue as it turned to look up at them.

 

“No, you don't understand. You can't put me in there,” he insisted in a near panic.  Rose wrapped her arms around his waist as he pulled her protectively against his side.  Those disgusting things had been the source of too much pain in both of their lives and the couple knew they wouldn’t be able to think objectively about this.

 

“Doctor?” it questioned shakily.

 

 **“** How do you know who I am?” he demanded angrily.

 

“He doesn't. We promised him medical assistance,” the commanding officer told him.

 

“Are you my doctor?” the dalek asked.

 

“We found it floating in space,” Journey added.

 

“We thought it was deactivated, so we tried to disassemble it,” her uncle explained.

 

“You didn't realise there was a living creature inside,” the Doctor concluded.

 

“God, this is all way too familiar,” Rose sighed, thinking of how Van Statten had tried drilling into the casing of his captured dalek.

 

“Not till it started screaming,” Journey told them, shivering at the memory.

 

“Help me,” the dalek pleaded.

 

“Why would I do that? Why would any living creature help you?” the Doctor responded, disgust clear in his voice.

 

“Daleks will die,” it said.

 

“Die all you like. Not my problem,” he answered.

 

“Daleks must be destroyed,” the dalek insisted.

 

“What?” Rose gasped.

 

“Daleks must be de-  What did you just say? Rose, did it just say what I think it just said?”

 

“All Daleks must die. I will destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks!” it shouted and began to shake with anger.

 

“Excuse us for a minute,” Rose told Journey and her uncle as she pulled her husband aside and decided that this conversation was best kept private.

 

 _“Doctor, look at me, love,”_ she insisted as he continued to stare at the dalek in shock. _“You and I aren’t going to be able to stay objective and at our best on this.  We need someone with us who isn’t already compromised by just being around one.”_

 

 _“Why, so they can be traumatized by them for the rest of their lives from now on?”_ he argued, knowing that she must mean to bring Clara into this.  She had seen a bit of them while they were dealing with the war and she knew a lot about them, but had never faced one in a life or death situation.  James, River, Jack, almost everyone else would be just as biased as they were.

 

 _“Look, I know that you want to protect her, but she will be able to think straight where you and I might get too emotional.  Add to that, remember that she knew how to hack into the dalek stuff at the asylum that even you didn’t know how to do.  Maybe this is where she learns some of that?”_ Rose suggested.

 

 _“Damn, I hate it when you’re logical,”_ he replied, narrowing his eyes at her.

 

 _“No you don’t,”_ Rose answered with a smirk.

 

“Right, we need to go pick up one more person to help us out with this and we’ll be right back.  If there’s any chance of destroying the daleks from the inside out, we have to try,” the Doctor told the soldiers, then took his wife’s hand as they headed back to the TARDIS.

 

############################

 

Clara was spending some time doing her human job on Earth for a while.  Her family’s connections had gotten her a position as an English teacher at Coal Hill school.  Apparently, when her granddad first started travelling, his granddaughter Susan had posed as a student here.  It wasn’t long before her teachers were suspicious of her and followed her back to the TARDIS, but the story was great.

 

She had been working there for a while now and had become quite comfortable teaching there between trips with her grandparents.  Clara had even gotten herself an apartment nearby the school, since she didn’t have her own TARDIS yet.  

 

On her way into the school, she noticed a young, dark skinned man doing soldier type shouting and marching about with some students in the school yard.  The kids were all wearing matching shirts and seemed to be having fun with him until the bell rang.  She thought he was rather handsome and gave him a smile before heading inside.

 

The day had flown by and she didn’t catch a glimpse of the young man again until the end of the day, while she was talking with the headmaster.  

 

“Fine, I'll take that class and then, they can do some of the test,” she said in agreement to some changes to her regular timetable.

 

“I know. Oh, Clara, you've not met Danny Pink yet? New fella, maths. Danny? Clara Tyler,” the headmaster called over to the new teacher.

 

Danny walked over to greet her properly and shook her hand.  Clara gave him a warm smile as she assessed the handsome young teacher more closely now.

 

“Hey.”

 

“English,” the headmaster told Danny regarding Clara.

 

“Hey, nice to meet you,” Danny said.

 

“You too.”

 

“Want to watch yourself around him. Bit of a lady-killer, but always denies it,” the headmaster warned her.

 

“I am not a lady-killer,” Danny insisted, clearly frustrated with the reputation that was already spreading about him.

 

“See what I mean? Oh, Beth, can I have a word?” he responded, moving on to speak with another member of the staff.

 

“Er, was it you that I saw outside doing the soldiery thing?” Clara asked, trying to make conversation with him.

 

“Ah yeah, probably. The Coal Hill Cadets. Just a bit of fun,” he replied nervously.

 

“What, teaching them how to shoot people?” Clara accused.  She had been brought up with her granddad’s preference for nonviolent solutions, despite her mother’s occasional use of her sonic blaster.  Yes, Clara often carried one when she travelled, but her uncle Jack had trained her to aim for things rather than people and even if she were to hit a person, it would likely be set to stun. Human guns didn’t have that capability yet.

 

“There's a bit more to modern soldiering than just shooting people. I like to think there's a moral dimension,” Danny argued.

 

“Ah, you shoot people then cry about it afterwards?” she countered.  It was a bit cruel really.  She knew how painful it was for her granddad to have gone through the Time War, but the idea of encouraging the children to take an interest bothered her quite a lot.

 

“Ah.”

 

“Something wrong?” she pressed when he seemed to withdraw from any further conversation.

 

“Nothing, no. Sorry, no, nothing. I just. I didn't think they'd say anything, that's all,” he told her.  He seemed embarrassed about something all of a sudden and she wasn’t sure why.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Have they told everyone?”

 

“No, no, no. As far as I know, nobody has told anybody anything. What are you talking about?” Clara wondered, suddenly sorry that she had teased him.

 

“Why did you just say the crying thing?” he asked.

 

“I was being funny,” she replied, thinking she must have gotten something wrong in her attempt at making a joke.

 

“Why?” he questioned, becoming more upset.

 

“I just do that.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I don't know,” she admitted.  She looked down and fidgeted with her fingers.

 

“Anyway I, er, I've left some stuff in my class,” he said awkwardly.

 

“Okay, see you.”

 

“See you,” he responded, heading for the door.

 

Clara suddenly didn’t want to let him leave when she had clearly offended him.  She thought he was very handsome, clearly intelligent, and not as inherently violent as she considered most soldiers.  In a desperate attempt to resolve the situation, she called after him, “Er, are you going to the, er, leaving thing tonight for Cathy?”

 

“Um. No, I'm not,” he answered quickly.

 

“Oh, okay, never mind.”

 

“Good night,” he told her.

 

“Change your mind,” she blurted out suddenly.  

 

“Excuse me?” he asked, turning back to look at her in confusion.

 

“I'm going. Er, I'll give you a lift. Why not?” she suggested.  She hadn’t really been planning on going to the party, but it seemed like a better excuse to get to know him than just asking him out for a drink.

 

“No, I've got some reading,” he told her.

 

“Ah, okay. Maybe some other time, then?” she asked hopefully.  Clara didn’t want to seem desperate or anything, but he really didn’t seem to want to go with her, so she decided to drop it for now.

 

Well, she had decided to drop it, until she heard him berating himself in his classroom over what he had said.  She stood just outside the door as he talked to himself.

 **“** Yeah. I wasn't going, but I am now, because you're going to be there, and suddenly it seems like the best idea ever. Actually, now that you mention it, seems like the best plan ever. Thank you,” he mumbled angrily before pounding his head on the desk.

 

“Ahem. Is the wooden sound you or or the desk?” she asked, popping her head into the room.

 

“How long have you been there?” he questioned, his eyes wide.

 

“Longer than you would like,” she teased.

 

“Okay.”

 

“Are you going to look that terrified when you take me out for a drink?” Clara asked, deciding that he was just as taken with her as she was with him.

 

“I, I absolutely promise I won't,” he answered nervously.

 

“Play your cards right and you might.”

 

Clara left the classroom to head out of the school.  She needed to get home and changed for the party, having gotten directions for where to pick Danny up later that evening.  She hadn’t really tried dating before, but decided it would be good for her, if at least as part of immersing herself in human culture for the time being.

 

She was entirely lost in her thoughts, a silly grin on her face, when Rose burst out of the nearby supply cupboard and grabbed her hand.  

 

“Come on, sweetheart, we need your help,” Rose told her, heading back to the TARDIS that was parked in the closet.  “Hope we aren’t interrupting anything, but this is a bit of an emergency.”

 

“Well, good thing this is a time machine and I can get back without missing anything,” Clara replied.

 

“Ooh, hot date tonight?” Rose asked teasingly.

 

“Actually, yes,” she answered with an embarrassed blush.

 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Clara.  We’ll have you back in plenty of time, promise,” Rose assured her.

 

“Alright, what’s the emergency?”

 

Rose looked worriedly at her husband.  The Doctor glanced up from the calculations he was working out on the monitor to where their granddaughter stood.  He wondered at his ability to continuously put the people he loved in mortal danger rather than just letting them live their boring but safe lives.

 

“We can’t do this alone.  Rose and I need someone that’s a little less biased for this trip,” he admitted.

 

“Biased? The two of you are the most compassionate people I know,” Clara argued.

  
“Not when it comes to Daleks,” Rose sighed, taking the Doctor’s hand.


	5. Into the Dalek - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting. I"m working on the next one right now and it shouldn't be long. I'll probably skip Listen (that episode was stupid) and I"m still deciding what to do with Time Heist. Anyway, I hope you like the changes I made to the end of this one.

Rose and the Doctor explained to Clara what they were dealing with.  She knew the stories about the Daleks from their lives and her parents’ lives, but hadn’t had much experience with them herself yet.  They couldn’t pass up the opportunity to repair a Dalek that was willing to destroy them all from inside their network.

 

“A good Dalek?” Clara questioned hopefully.

 

“There's no such thing,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“That's a bit inflexible. Not like you. I'd almost say prejudiced,” Clara accused.

 

“Look, sweetheart, there was a time when I would agree with you.  I did in fact.  We came across one that was dying and I touched it.  Somehow, it absorbed a bit of me and started changing.  In the end, it started feeling things and decided to destroy itself rather than continue that way.  I’m not saying that individuals can’t change, but their entire identity is built around the fact that they don’t feel things like love and compassion.  They see those as malfunctions and especially if it is connected to their sort of hive mind thing, it can’t last,” Rose explained.

 

“So, what are we doing then?” Clara wondered.

 

“Finding out how this happened and whether or not we can use this as an advantage against them,” the Doctor replied as he completed the landing and the time rotor came to a stop. “Come on.”

 

“That was quick,” Journey said as the trio stepped back out of the TARDIS.

 

“This is gun girl. She's got a gun, and she's a girl. This is a sort of boss one. Are you the same one as before?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“Yes,” he sighed.

 

“Her name is Journey.  This is her uncle, Colonel Morgan,” Rose clarified the introductions. “This is Clara, she is our granddaughter.”

 

“Granddaughter?! How can you have a granddaughter?  You look the same age as her,” Journey argued.

 

“I moisturize,” Rose responded with a smirk.

 

“Don’t they usually say that to me?” the Doctor mumbled.

 

“Not anymore, love,” Rose answered, patting his arm.

 

They reentered the room where the broken Dalek was stored and the Doctor stopped right in front of it as he gathered his thoughts on how they would handle this.

 

“Doctor,” it acknowledged.

 

“Hello again.”

 

“Will you help me?” the Dalek asked.

 

“That’s why we came back,” Rose replied.

 

“A Dalek so damaged, it's turned good. Morality as malfunction. How do I resist?” the Doctor added.

 

“Daleks must die. Daleks must die,” it shouted angrily.

 

“So, what do we do with a moral Dalek, then?” Clara wondered.

 

“We get into its head,” the Doctor told her as they started walking back to the machine that would get them there.

 

“Mmm. How do you get into a Dalek's head?”

 

“He was talking literally, sweetheart.  We’re going inside that thing,” Rose explained.

 

“Is that a moleculon nanoscaler?” Clara asked as she took in the device.

 

“Very good.  That’s precisely what it is,” the Doctor beamed.

 

“These are nanocontrollers,” Journey explained as she placed bracelets on each of their arms. “Once we're miniaturised, they take over the molecular compression. When the mission's over, hit the button. Are you sure you understand?”

 

“Why wouldn't I?” Clara wondered.

 

“Because this is a dangerous mission and you look like a school teacher,” Journey said skeptically.

 

“I am a school teacher. I’m also a genius and very much used to this, thanks,” Clara countered.

 

“What are those ones for? I don't need armed baby-sitters,” the Doctor protested as several more soldiers joined them in preparations to be miniaturised.

 

“We're not baby-sitters,” a girl replied.

 

“We're here to shoot you dead if you turn out to be a Dalek spy,” the young man next to her explained.

 

“Well, that's a relief. I hate baby-sitters,” the Doctor grumbled, taking his wife’s hand again.

 

“Okay, listen up. Now, remember, do not hold your breath when the nanoscaler engages. You'll feel like you want to, but you must keep breathing normally during the miniaturisation process,” Journey instructed.

 

“Why’s that then?” Rose wondered.

 

“Remember the time we microwaved a lasagne without pricking the film on top?” the Doctor said.

 

“Yeah, made a hell of a mess,” Rose replied.

 

“Don't be lasagne.”

 

“Got it.  Breathing normally,” Rose acknowledged, gripping his hand tighter.

 

The Doctor could feel Rose’s nervousness flow through him when their bracelets clicked together.  It wasn’t really about the danger of the stupid machine, but facing a Dalek and putting themselves in such a vulnerable position inside of it.  He sent her as much mental reassurance as he could, despite his awareness that this particular regeneration wasn’t very adept at that sort of thing.

 

“Nanoscaler engaging in five, four, three, two. Nanoscaler engaging now,” Morgan announced before they had a chance to reconsider.

“Nanoscaling in progress,” a computer voice announced as beams of light started to flash over them and the process began.  The view to the outside changed drastically as the chamber shrank down to the size of a pill.  “Nanoscaling complete.”

 

There was a bit of chatter as the capsule was inserted into the Dalek and they made their way inside, but the Doctor focused his attention on their surroundings, what defense mechanisms the Dalek might have against any sort of ‘infection’ as they might be viewed, and what kind of access they might get to its systems. 

 

“What are the lights?” Clara asked, breaking through his thoughts.

 

“Visual impulses travelling towards the brain,” he replied.

 

“Beautiful,” Clara commented.

 

“A lot of dangerous things often are,” Rose told her.

 

“Welcome to the most dangerous place in the universe,” the Doctor added.

 

The sort of tunnel where they found themselves was dark, except for the flashing lights that indicated the progression of thoughts through the systems.  There was a surprising amount of room for them to move around in, but very little direction to where they needed to be.  Probably, the best bet would be to follow the lights toward their destination.

 

“Entering the cranial ledge now,” Journey reported into her radio.

 

They could see the body of the Dalek below them, cables running down to connect it with the systems of the casing.  Rose squeezed the Doctor’s hand tightly, remembering a similar sight in Utah when she was only 19.

 

“Behold, the belly of the beast,” the Doctor announced.

 

“It's amazing,” Clara said, clearly in awe of the complexity of the design.

 

“It's huge,” one of the soldiers commented.

 

“No, Ross. We're tiny,” another, named Gretchen, corrected.

 

“Does it know we're here?” Ross asked.

 

“It's what invited us in,” Journey responded logically.

 

Ignoring their conversation for the most part, the Doctor scrutinized their surroundings.  Banks of lights surrounded the inner part of the ledge where they were standing.  Given what he knew about Dalek construction from the Time War, he had a pretty good idea of what they were looking at.

 

“Now, this is the cortex vault, a supplementary electronic brain. Memory banks, but more than that. This is what keeps the Dalek pure.”

 

“How are Daleks pure?” Gretchen asked.

 

“What, you think they cross breed with other species?” Rose snarked.

 

“Dalek mutants are born hating. This is what stokes the fire, extinguishes even the tiniest glimmer of kindness or compassion. Imagine the worst possible thing in the universe, then don't bother, because you're looking at it right now. This is evil refined as engineering,” the Doctor explained.  This was where he and Rose would definitely have trouble being objective.

 

“Doctor?” the Dalek called, its voice echoing loudly through the casing.

 

“Oh, hello, Rusty. You don't mind if I call you Rusty? We're going to need to come down there with you. Medical examination, and all that,” the Doctor shouted back, hoping that it could hear him.

 

“What, with those tentacles and things?” Gretchen questioned with an expression of disgust.

 

“How close do we have to get?” Journey asked warily.

 

“Well, you know, we're never going to insert a thermometer from up here,” the Doctor informed them.

 

“And you all had the nerve to ask if WE knew what we were getting into?” Rose chastised.  Really, they had been terribly condescending before this began and now they were getting squeamish.

 

Journey nodded to Ross and he proceeded to fire a harpoon with a rope attached to it into the metal ledge.  The Doctor, Rose and Clara all gasped in terror at the action, knowing this would surely set off involuntary defense mechanisms.

 

“No. No, no, no, no! Stop, stop, stop, you idiot!” the Doctor shouted, but Ross fired another harpoon before he could stop him.

 

“We need a way down, the only way-” Journey began to argue.

 

“This is a Dalek, not a machine. It's a perfect analogue of a living being, and you just hurt it. So what's going to happen now?” the Doctor insisted.

 

“Oh, God,” Clara moaned.

 

“What? What is it?” Gretchen wondered.

 

“How does your body defend itself from the inside?” Rose prompted.

 

The soldiers looked back at them blankly, biology was clearly not a prioritised subject in their schooling.

 

“Antibodies?” Clara suggested.

 

“Dalek antibodies,” the Doctor confirmed as several small, round drones fly to a stop in front of them. “Nobody move. Any attempt to help him, or attack those things, will identify you as a secondary source of infection. Stay still!”

 

The robots open to reveal a blue scanning light and surround Ross, since he was the one firing the harpoons.  He stares back at the machines, petrified in place.

 

“But the Dalek wants us in here. Why is it attacking?” Clara asked.

 

“How much control do you have over your immune system, sweetheart?” Rose answered.

 

“Ross, stay calm. We're going to get you out of this,” Journey assured her comrade.

 

“Can you?” Clara wondered, not sure that there was a way around this now.

 

The Doctor dug through his pocket for something, then tossed it to the troubled soldier.  “Ross, swallow that.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Trust me,” the Doctor insisted.

 

He quickly swallowed what he had been given and asked, “Now what?”

 

Without warning, the antibodies fired a disintegrating beam at Ross, prompting screams from the unsuspecting soldiers.  Rose tried to keep from losing her lunch at the sight in front of them. One of the machines sucked up the resulting dust and turned from blue to red.

 

“Oh, my God. What's it doing?” Clara asked.

 

“The hoovering,” the Doctor replied and activated his sonic to track the little drone. “Gotcha.”

 

He quickly led them down a passageway and the group blindly followed, since he seemed to be the only one with a clue where to go.

 

“What did you give him?” Clara asked as they made their way through the twisting corridors.

 

“Oh, just a spare power cell, but I can track the radiation signature. I need to know where they dump the bodies,” the Doctor responded coldly.

 

“I thought you were saving him,” Journey shouted angrily.

 

“He was dead already. I was saving us. Follow me and run,” the Doctor answered sharply, taking his wife’s hand.

 

“Run!” Clara shouted when she noticed another group of antibodies following them.

 

“They've dumped him in here. Organic refuse disposal. We need to get in there,” the Doctor told them as they stop in front of a dark hole.

 

“Why?” Clara questioned as the Gretchen and Journey started shooting at the drones.

 

Rose wasn’t about to question the leap her husband suggested when their lives were clearly on the line, so she started climbing into the hole.

 

“Those antibodies won't give up until we're inside there. I'd rather go in alive than dead,” he explained quickly, helping his wife and urging his granddaughter to get ready to follow her.

 

“You don't know where it goes,” Journey argued.

 

“Geronimo!” Rose shouted as she slid into the shaft.

 

“Yes, I do. Away from here. Now in. In! In!” he insisted.

 

“I can hold them off,” Gretchen told him, still firing at the robots.

 

“No, you can't,” he argued. “Pull back. Down. Jump, everyone, jump.” He was the last one to slide down the dark shaft and recovered quickly with some help from Rose in the smelly liquid they’d landed in.

 

“I’m reminded of a certain incident on the Starship UK, my love.  If we’re standing on a tongue, I’m going to be significantly less than impressed,” Rose grumbled.

 

“Urgh. What is this stuff?” Clara asked.

 

“People. The Daleks need protein. Occasionally, they harvest from their victims. This is a feeding tube,” the Doctor told them, looking for possible exits.

 

“Is Ross here?” Journey questioned.

 

“Yeah. Top layer, if you want to say a few words,” he replied coldly.

 

“Alright, Doctor, that’s enough,” Rose growled before the soldiers could start into him about his callousness.  “I know that this version of you, is a bit less cuddly than your last couple of incarnations, but I also know that you care about the fact that we just lost someone.  Now, you need to be a bit more sensitive to everyone’s feelings about that.”

 

“Triage, Rose.  I am trying to save everyone that I can here.  He was already dead the moment he fired those stupid things into the wall,” he argued.

 

“I know that! And I know that this you isn’t going to spend several minutes telling everyone how sorry you are that you can’t fix everything.  I know that we don’t often get days where everybody lives and we can dance the evening away afterward. But Doctor, I know that you care.  I’ve been your wife for over three centuries, and I know the heart of you that stays through all the changes,” she insisted forcefully, pressing her hand to his chest, between his racing hearts.

 

His eyes locked with those of his wife as she fought to find his very soul.  They were in terrible danger every minute they remained inside this tin can of hate and he just needed everyone to follow directions so that he could get them all back out of here alive.  He had such a short temper now and so little tolerance for people mucking up his plans.

 

“I’m sorry,” he sighed.  “But if the rest of us are going to survive this little field trip, I need everyone to follow my instructions from now on.  That means not doing what you think is best without checking with me first.”

 

“A man has just died. You will not talk like that,” Journey growled.

 

“A lot of people have died. Everything in here is dead, and do you know why that's good?”

 

“There is nothing good about that.”

 

“Nothing is alive in here, so logically this is the weakest spot in the Dalek's internal security. Nobody guards the dead. Mortuaries and larders, always the easiest to break out of. Oh, I've lived a life. Tell Uncle Stupid that we're in,” he told her.  “Ah ha! A bolt hole.”

 

Rose sighed at his quick return to tense arguing.  This was apparently going to be a continuing issue for a while.  Her first Doctor was gruff and moody, but revelled in saving people and the pain was writ clearly on his face when he couldn’t save people. Her second Doctor was filled with apologies and speeches as they did their best to keep as many people alive as possible through their adventures.  Her third Doctor had been with her the longest.  He could be difficult to read, always manic and bouncy on the surface, but often hiding his anger beneath it.  Through all of it though, he loved life, all life.  He was in awe of the miracles of creation and craved the chance to preserve all of it in its splendor.  To see him behaving as if the young man that had just perished didn’t matter at all, was a jolt to her view of her husband.

 

The Doctor used his sonic to unscrew a large bolt next to them and pulled it out of the way.

 

“He'll get us out of here. The difficult part is not killing him before he can,” Clara told the soldiers.

 

“Bolt hole. Actually, a hole for a bolt. Does nobody get that?” the Doctor joked.

 

“Also, there's the puns,” Clara added, rolling her eyes.

 

They made their way down to the level of the squishy part of Rusty.  As they were moving, Journey reported back to her uncle that they had lost Ross to the internal defences.  It was regrettable, but they decided to continue with the mission, not that the Doctor planned to stop now.  

  
“What's that noise? Are you wearing a Geiger counter?” the Doctor asked Gretchen, recognizing the noise coming from her equipment.

 

“Standard battle equipment. That's just low level radiation,” she replied.

 

“But stronger down here, for some reason. Gimme,” he said, pulling the device from her to look at the readings himself.

 

“Was that him?” Morgan asked through the radio. “How's he working out?”

 

“It's hard to say,” Journey responded. “He’s-”

 

**“** I've got it. I know what's wrong with Rusty,” the Doctor interrupted as he scanned the nearby circuits.

 

“Okay, that's good. Is that good?” Clara commented.

 

“Well, you know how I said this was the most dangerous place in the universe? I was wrong. It's way more dangerous than that,” the Doctor told them.

 

“Not so good, then,” Rose added.

 

**“** Colonel, we have radiation indicators red-lining in here. Could be that the Dalek is more badly damaged than we thought,” Journey reported.

 

“Copy that,” Morgan replied.

 

“Old Rusty here is suffering a trionic radiation leak. It's poisoning the Dalek and us. Just as well we're here,” the Doctor told them.

 

“Really? Perhaps we should get out while we can. Why should we trust a Dalek? Why would it change?” Journey suggested.

 

“Good question. Rusty? What changed you?” the Doctor asked it directly.

 

“I saw beauty,” Rusty replied.

 

“You saw what?” the Doctor questioned incredulously.  The last time the Daleks had spoken of beauty, it was regarding the raving madness of the Daleks locked in the asylum.

 

“In the silence and the cold, I saw worlds burning.”

 

“That's not beauty, that's destruction,” Journey argued.

 

“I saw more.”

 

“What? What did you see?” the Doctor prompted, needing to know just what they were dealing with.

 

“The birth of a star.”

 

“Stars are born every day. You've seen a million stars born. So what?” he argued.

 

“Daleks have destroyed a million stars,” it countered.

 

“Oh, millions and millions. Trust me, I keep count,” the Doctor agreed, still not seeing where this was going.

 

“And yet, new stars are born,” it told him.

 

“Every time,” the Doctor said.

 

“Resistance is futile.”

 

“Resistance to what?” Rose wondered.

 

“Life returns. Life prevails. Resistance is futile,” Rusty told them the conclusion it had reached.

 

“So you saw a star being born, and you learned something. Oh, Dalek, do not be lying to me. Come on,” the Doctor responded, still disbelieving that something so simple could make that big an impact.

 

Journey continued reporting the radiation levels as they made their way to face the Dalek directly.  They were getting dangerously high, but they had to keep going now that they were finding out just what was going on.

 

“Geiger counter's off the scale. Looks like it's about to blow,” Journey told him.

 

“Good.”

 

“How is that good?”

 

“We work better under pressure,” Rose answered for him.

 

“Rusty, can you hear me?”

 

“Doctor?”

 

“Rusty, we've found the damage. I'm sealing up the breach in your power cell. No more radiation poisoning. Good as new. There. Job done,” the Doctor announced as he used his sonic to weld the broken power cell closed.

 

“Pretty simple repair. Its own systems couldn’t do that?” Rose asked.

 

“An anti-climax once in awhile is good for my hearts,” the Doctor replied. “Rusty? How do you feel? Rusty? Rusty? Rusty.”

 

“The malfunction is corrected,” Rusty answered after a moment. Several lights began flashing to life as systems came back online.

 

“What's happened?” Journey asked warily.

 

“Not entirely sure,” he admitted.

 

“It's like it's waking up.”

 

“Rusty, come on, talk to me. What's going on?”

 

“I don’t like the feeling of this, love,” Rose told him.

 

“The malfunction is corrected. All systems are functioning. Weapons charged.”

 

“Oh, no, no, no,” the Doctor cursed.

 

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

 

“Right, ok, it’s forgotten all the stuff it was just talking about, yeah?” Rose reasoned.

 

“Seems like.  The reset went and deleted all that stuff about not resisting life or something,” Clara agreed.

 

“We’ve got to stop this thing, what are you two rambling about?” the Doctor argued.

 

They could hear the weapons firing outside of the casing as the Dalek attacked the soldiers that had been guarding it before.  They didn’t have much time.

 

“Listen to me, Doctor, please,” Rose insisted, looking him straight in the eyes. “Remember what happened in Utah.  Now, I hate the Daleks just as much as you do, but I would rather let this thing think it’s malfunctioning and self destruct than blow it up ourselves.  We just need to get it thinking about the birth of that star again.  Where does it store the files that it’s deleting before they’re gone for good?”

 

The Doctor looked at her carefully as he considered the plan she was proposing.  It could work.  Reinstating the idea now that there was no damage and insisting that it reconsider the line of thought it had previously accepted might either convince it to really believe in the persistence of life in the universe or find itself corrupted and self destruct.  Either way, it would likely stop killing the humans outside.

 

“Is she right? Will it work?” Clara asked hopefully.

 

“Are you out of your mind? We’ve got to destroy this thing,” Journey told them, pulling explosives out of her bag.

 

“No, I'm inside a Dalek. I'm standing where I've never been. We cannot waste this chance. It won't come again,” the Doctor insisted.

 

Rose smiled brightly when she realised that he was taking her advice.  Clara beamed at her grandmother proudly as they took in the Doctor’s manic confidence while working out a new plan.

 

“The Dalek isn't just some angry blob in a Dalekanium tank. If it was, the radiation would have turned it into a raging lunatic.”

 

“It is a raging lunatic, it's a Dalek,” Journey argued.

 

“But for a moment, it wasn't. The radiation allowed it to expand its consciousness, to consider things beyond its natural terms of reference. It became good. That means a good Dalek is possible. What it saw, what it felt, is still there.”

 

“Yeah, I'm not really seeing that,” Journey snarked.

 

“Not here. There,” he corrected, pointing up to the computers above them. “Every memory recorded. Some suppressed, but all still intact. We need to show the Dalek that star being born again. Recreate that moment. We need to get up there, find that moment and reawaken it.”

 

“And what do you need me to do down here, love?” Rose asked when he indicated the group that was going up there and didn’t include her.

 

“You, my brilliant Rose, are going to convince it to love the universe again.  You did it for me after the war, when I thought I couldn’t care about anything ever again, and you can do it now.  You made a Dalek yearn to see the sunlight one last time, you can change this one’s mind too,” he assured her and gave her a quick but forceful kiss before pulling Clara and Journey with him to climb back up a nearby grating.

 

The Doctor and Clara took Journey and Gretchen with them as they tried to find the fastest way back up to where they needed to be, while Rose steeled herself to face the Dalek head on.  Her husband's encouragement just now had been a bit of what she was hoping was still in there somewhere. That recognition of their past together and how much she had helped him recover from the war, bolstered her confidence that they would get through this as they always had.

 

“Hello, Rusty. My name's Rose.”

 

“You cannot save the humans. They will be exterminated. I shall join the Dalek units in the final attack.”

 

“But why? What's the point in all that killing?” Rose questioned.

 

“Daleks shall reign supreme.”

 

“But you said it yourself, don't you remember? Resistance is futile. Life always returns.”

 

“The Daleks will be victorious,” it argued obstinately.

 

“Yeah, here's the thing though, the Doctor is going to restore some of your memories in a minute. Just a little while ago you were making sense and now you're not,” Rose insisted.

 

“The malfunction has been repaired.”

 

“The physical problem has been fixed, but your logic is faulty. You learned that no matter how much the Daleks destroy, life keeps on coming back. The Daleks can't destroy everything. By the time you move on to the next thing, life is already starting over. Resistance is futile,” Rose told it, trying to remind the stupid thing of its own argument.

 

“Daleks cannot be defeated,” it protested.

 

“You can though. You've been defeated hundreds of times,” Rose argued, feeling a bit of her mind nudge toward her ability to see all that is, was, and could be. Perhaps, she thought, she could share that with the Dalek even if it's own memory of the birth of a star wasn't restored. “Let's try something different, Rusty.”

 

Taking a deep breath, Rose focused within her own mind for a moment. She hadn't been successful in doing this before, but as she listened to the people dying outside of the Dalek they were trying to fix, the urgency of saving as many lives as possible helped her push past the barrier in her mind.  When her eyes opened again to look into the large singular eye of the creature before her, they were glowing with golden energy.

 

“It's been restored, Rose!” the Doctor shouted to her from above. He could sense though that something wasn't quite right. “Rose?”

 

“Watch what I have to show you, Dalek, as your kind have been defeated over and over again.  As you destroy, life in the universe rebuilds itself more and more. The very things you have tried to eliminate are continuously renewed through your own actions,” the Bad Wolf announced as she projected images into the mind of the confused alien.

 

“This cannot be. Daleks destroy. It is our function,” it insisted.

 

“Guess you're not very good at it then,” the Bad Wolf taunted.

 

“Then what is our purpose?” 

 

“I'd say the rest of them are encouraging more life in the universe. So, what are you going to do about it, Dalek?” 

 

“They must be stopped. The Daleks must be exterminated,” it decided and the attacks outside of the armour turned onto the invading Daleks instead of the humans. There were several explosions followed by a tense silence. “The Daleks are exterminated,” it announced finally and the weaponry stopped.

 

“Of course they are. That's what you do, isn't it?” the Doctor said from Rose’s side. “You can stop now, love. It's over, come back to me.”

 

“Doctor?” Rose questioned as she blinked back into the present.

 

“I am Dalek. Daleks must be destroyed. Self-destruct initiated.”

 

“Shit!” the Doctor cursed and pulled all of them away from the creature in front of them. Thinking back to when they were outside of Rusty, there was a large crack in the casing at about this level. If he could get them to the exterior shell, they could jump for it.

 

“There's light ahead of us, granddad!” Clara shouted.

 

“When we jump, all of you need to hit that bracelet. The fall will be deadly if we stay this size, just make sure you're clear of the casing before you press it,” he instructed quickly as the light grew brighter in front of them and the beeping of the self-destruct countdown became more insistent.

 

As they leapt from the broken edge beneath them, each slapped the bracelet on their wrist that would return them to their normal size.  Due to their proximity, it meant that everyone smashed into each other and tumbled in a heap on the floor. Behind them, an explosion threw debris over their heads.

 

“Time to go,” the Doctor said abruptly. He pulled Rose and Clara up from the ground and they silently made their way back to the TARDIS despite the protests of the remaining humans.

 

**\--------------------------------------------**

 

Clara took a moment to run to the wardrobe room before her grandparents dropped her back at home.  She felt a real connection with this new teacher and wanted to make a good impression after their slightly rocky start at the school.  Her grandparents seemed a bit upset when she entered the console room, but knowing them, they’d want some time alone to work it out.

 

“How do I look?” she asked, announcing her presence.

 

“Sort of short and round-ish, but with a good personality, which is the main thing,” the Doctor told her.

 

“I meant my clothes. I just changed.”

 

“You’re beautiful, sweetheart.  Have a good time, yeah?” Rose assured her.  “Call us if you need anything.”

 

“I will.  Stay out of trouble you two,” Clara replied, giving both of them a kiss on the cheek before heading for the doors.

 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Rose teased, earning a smirk from the Doctor.

 

Once the door had closed again, the Doctor piloted the ship back into the vortex and sat beside his wife on the bench.  She was staring blankly, deep in thought, and he took her hand.  As their bracelets clicked together, her feelings in his mind intensified and he felt worry, guilt, and pain most of all.

 

“What is it, Rose?” he questioned worriedly.  She had saved them all and made such a huge difference today.

 

“I did it again,” she whispered.  “Is convincing someone to kill themselves really better than being the one to pull the trigger?”

 

“Oh, Rose,” he sighed and pulled her into his arms. “What have I done to you?”

 

“It’s not your fault, love. I’ve made this decision before.  It never occurred to me though that it might not be the right one.”

 

“If that makes you a bad person, darling, then I’m far worse.  I’ve been doing this for centuries and hardly ever pull the trigger myself.  I don’t know if I’m a good man, but I do know that you are the most compassionate person that I’ve ever met in my very long life,” he answered, rubbing slow circles on her back.

 

“I need to run.  Let’s go save some people,” Rose told him, pulling herself back together.  She could keep considering their moral compass later, but after all the deaths suffered today, she needed a happier ending. 


	6. Robot of Sherwood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the whole episode for this one, no need to break it up. I will be skipping "Listen" because, quite frankly, it was stupid. I'm still deciding if I want to insert some introspective stuff between them before getting to the next episode or not. I hope you're all enjoying the story... this will probably be the last one in the series. It's getting really long and I think I'll need to move on to other things soon, but I don't want to just leave it in the middle of stuff, so I will probably finish the stories in this season.

The Doctor was working on some complicated maths on a blackboard that he had moved into the console room.  The little areas off to the sides of the room had been fairly empty before, but he had recently expanded them to include books, a desk, some comfy chairs and blackboards.  It meant that they could relax and work on stuff in the console room rather than all the way in the library.  For the moment, Rose was reading and it gave her an idea for their next stop.  It was probably just fiction, not real at all, but what was the harm in looking?  A lot of legends were based on something real after all.

 

Rose made her way down to the ship’s controls and started looking up a few things in the computer to find coordinates for where she wanted to go.

 

“And just what are you up to, darling?” the Doctor asked around a spoonful of custard that he was eating.

 

“Just an idea. Might be nothing.  No fish fingers this time?” Rose asked.

 

“No.  How did you ever let me eat that rubbish anyway? What’s this idea of yours? I know that smirk.”

 

“Well, I was just reading Robin Hood, and I thought we could go explore the real Sherwood Forest,” Rose suggested.

 

“You know that’s just fiction, love.  Old-fashioned heroes only exist in old-fashioned story books,” he told her, making his way down to the console.

 

“I don’t know, you’re my hero, and you’re definitely old if not old-fashioned,” she teased.

 

“I have never been old-fashioned!” he protested, bopping her on the nose with his spoon.  “Hey, what about Mars? The Ice Warrior Hives.”

 

“You’re joking, right? Take Jamie or Clara to something like that.”

 

“Or the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light. Those girls can hold their drink and fracture fifteen different levels of reality simultaneously. I think I've got a Polaroid somewhere,” he told her.

 

“We’ve been there, and no thank you.  What do you have against this?  It’s just a forest, I want to go exploring somewhere I won’t have to run from six legged purple rhinoceroses or something,” Rose argued.

 

“Fine, your wish is my command, as always. Earth. England. Sherwood Forest. 1190AD -ish. But you'll only be disappointed.”

 

“I know Robin Hood isn’t real.  I just want to see the forest that inspired it is all,” Rose insisted as they piloted the ship together to their destination.

 

On the way, Rose decided to run down to the wardrobe room and dress for the occasion.  The TARDIS drew her attention to a very pretty dress, appropriate to the period and she quickly braided her long hair over her shoulder.  She made sure to slip into some comfortable flats since there was sure to be some running involved eventually.

 

When they exited the TARDIS together, Rose noticed a lovely little stream nearby.  The day was warm and sunny, the light casting pretty shadows on the ground through the trees.

 

“No damsels in distress, no pretty castles, no such thing as Robin Hood,” the Doctor teased her as he pulled the doors shut.

 

Before he could turn back to take his wife’s arm, an arrow landed squarely into the door of the TARDIS.  Rose and the Doctor both looked in shock at the man who had shot it.  He was dressed in the very stereotypical image of Robin Hood.

 

“You called?” the man said with a wink to Rose.  “Very, very nicely done with the box, sir. I saw a Turk perform something very similar at Nottingham Fayre.”

 

“Not again.  She hates when that happens,” the Doctor grumbled, pulling the arrow out of the door. 

 

“It's a trick with mirrors, no doubt?”

 

“A trick?” the Doctor asked incredulously.

 

“Afraid not, mate.  Nice shot with the arrow though,” Rose called back to him.

 

“A good jest. Ha, ha!”

 

“This is not a trick,” the Doctor insisted.  “This is a TARDIS.”

 

“Whatever it is, you boney rascal, I'm afraid I must relieve you of it.”

 

“It's my property, that's what it is,” the Doctor argued.

 

“Well, don't you know all property is theft to Robin Hood?” the man answered with a bow.  He stood in the middle of a log acting as a small bridge over the little stream.

 

“You're not serious,” the Doctor responded, sure that this couldn’t possibly be the real Robin Hood, because there was no such thing.  The man must be delusional or they’d landed in some kind of reenactment or something.

 

“I'm many things, sir, but I'm never that. Robin Hood laughs in the face of all. Ha, ha, ha.”

 

“And do people ever punch you in the face when you do that?” the Doctor asked, prompting a laugh from Rose.

 

“Not as yet,” he admitted.

 

“Lucky I'm here then, isn't it?”

 

“Sorry, but I have to ask, are you really Robin Hood?” Rose interrupted.

 

“Rose, don’t be ridiculous,” the Doctor said, rolling his eyes at her.

 

“Well then, who, sir, is about to relieve you of your magic box?” he asked, drawing a long sword and pointing it towards  him.

 

“Nobody, sir. Not in this universe or the next,” the Doctor countered, moving to face him on the log.

 

“Well then, draw your sword and prove your words,” Robin Hood challenged.

 

“I have no sword. I don't need a sword. Because I am the Doctor,” he replied.  The Doctor opened his red satin lined coat to show that there was no sword, but did put on a single leather glove and reached into his inner pocket for something.  “And this is my spoon. En garde!”

 

Rose cheered as her husband easily deflected every attack with his spoon, teasingly smacking the young man as he lunged past several times.  “My hero!” she shouted.

 

“I've had some experience, as you well know, darling,” he called to her conversationally, not even short of breath. “Richard the Lionheart. Cyrano de Bergerac. Errol Flynn. He had the most enormous ego.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know anyone like that,” Rose replied sarcastically.

 

“You love it,” he told her with a wink as he easily knocked Robin into the water.

 

“Show off,” she told him, smiling brightly as he polished the spoon and tucked it back into his pocket.

 

“Like I said. My box.”

 

“Is he going to come up for air soon?” Rose asked, walking towards the Doctor worriedly.

 

They both looked over the edge into the water, but couldn’t see him.  Which made it all the more surprising when the Doctor was pushed over the side from behind.

 

“Oh my god! Are you alright, love?” Rose called down to him as he glared up at the man beside his wife on the bridge.  Robin Hood was laughing heartily despite the river water dripping from his clothes.

 

After helping the Doctor out of the River, Robin led the couple toward his hideout for introductions.  The Doctor used his sonic on the way to dry his clothes quickly, keeping hold of Rose’s hand lest the young upstart think he had a chance with her.

 

Their little settlement was in some caves, relatively hidden from view unless you came upon it.  They had a few small fires going for cooking and a small group of men came out to meet them as they approached.

 

“Let me introduce you to my men. This is Will Scarlet. He is a cheeky rogue with a good sword arm and a slippery tongue,” Robin told them.

 

Will bowed and kissed the back of Rose’s hand.  “My lady.”

 

The Doctor scowled at him and pulled out a strand of his hair to scan with his sonic.

 

“Argh! What do you want with my hair?” he protested angrily.

 

“Doctor! You could have scanned him without hurting him first,” Rose scolded.

 

“Well, it's realistic, I'll give you that,” the Doctor commented.

 

“And this is Friar Tuck. Aptly named for the amount of grub he tucks into,” Robin continued.

 

“You skinny blackguard,” the pudgy man countered, but all of them were laughing good naturedly. “What are you doing?” he shouted after nearly falling over because the Doctor had stolen one of his sandals straight off of his foot.

 

“This isn't a real sandal.”

 

“Yes, it is,” Tuck insisted.

 

The Doctor sniffed it and made a face before handing it back. “Oh. Yes, it is.”

 

“This, er, is Alan-a-Dale. He's a master of the lute, whose music brightens up these dark days.”

 

Alan played a bit on his lute before crooning to Rose playfully, “Stranger you are welcome here, in Sherwood's bonny glade. Ow!”

 

“Doctor! Seriously, stop it,” Rose snapped, angry at his behaviour. He was being crabby, even for his new self.

 

He looked at the scanner attached to the device he had just jabbed into the man’s arm. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. Blood analysis. Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months.”

 

“I am real,” Alan argued worriedly.

 

“Bye,” the Doctor told him.

 

“And this is John Little. Called Little John. He's my loyal companion in many an adventure,” Robin said to Rose as he introduced a tall, dark haired man.

 

A much smaller, man jumped out from behind him, startling her and making everyone laugh.  Rose laughed with them, but was unsure which of the two men was actually John after their little joke.

 

“Works every time,” Robin laughed with the rest of them.

 

“So, let me get this straight, you really are Robin Hood and his Merry Men?” Rose asked them.

 

“Aye! That is an apt description. What say you, lads?” Robin said as if he’d never heard the title before.

 

They all agreed happily before the Doctor interrupted, “Stop laughing. Why are you always doing that? Are you all simple or something?”

 

“Doctor! Excuse us a moment please, gentlemen,” Rose insisted, pulling her husband aside for a discussion. “Look, I know you’re trying to figure out how this is all possible, but you know perfectly well that there are less obvious ways to do that.” He gave her a look and though the face was new, the look wasn’t.

 

“You don’t want to be subtle, do you?” she sighed. He gave her a wink and she turned back towards the people they were with, shaking her head.  

 

“Well, they're not holograms, that much is obvious. Could be a theme park from the future. Or we might be inside a miniscope. Yes, of course. Why not?” the Doctor decided, looking around them for evidence.

 

“Your friend seems not quite of the real world,” Robin commented.

 

“Oh, my husband is a bit eccentric, yeah?” Rose replied with a shrug.

 

“Husband? Surely one so lovely as you deserves a younger man on her arm,” he flirted, reaching to kiss the back of her hand.

 

“Oi! Hands off, thank you,” the Doctor shouted from where he was examining their food.

 

“What did you mean earlier when you said these were dark days?” Rose wondered, sure that if they could get to the bottom of the trouble about, they’d figure out just how these men were here and apparently real.

 

“King Richard is away on crusade, my lady. His tyrant of a brother rules instead,” Will explained.

 

“Right, and there’s probably someone working for him, like a sheriff, yeah?” Rose questioned, seeing where this was going.

 

“Aye. It is indeed this jackal of the prince’s who seeks to oppress us for ever more,” Alan interjected.

 

“Or six months in your case,” the Doctor added.

 

“It is a shame to dwell on murky thoughts when there is such beauty here,” Robin said softly as he looked at Rose.

 

“Why are you so sad?” Rose asked him.

 

“Why do you think me sad?” he challenged.

 

“Been around a bit.  He may not look it right now, but he used to try to hide his sadness all the time,” she said with a nod towards her husband.  “Got used to looking past the laughter.”

 

“You know, I do not live this outlaw life by choice. You see before you Robert Earl of Loxley.  I had my lands and titles stripped from me. I dared to speak out against Prince John. But I lost the thing most dear to me,” he admitted.

 

“What was she called?” Rose asked knowingly.  Of course it would be Maid Marian, but she was determined to play this out.

 

“You're so very quick. How does the Doctor stand it?” Robin asked.

 

Rose simply shrugged and waited for him to continue.

 

“Her name was Marian,” he sighed finally.  “It was Marian who told me that I must stand up and be counted. But, I was afraid. Now this green canopy is my palace and the rough ground my feather bed. Maybe one day I will return home, but until that day. Until that day, it is beholden on me to be the man Marian wanted, to be a hero for those this tyrant sheriff slaughters.”

 

“What time is it, Mister Hood?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Somewhat after noon.”

 

“No, no. Time of year? What season?” he clarified.

 

“Oh, Dame Autumn has draped her mellow skirts about the forest, Doctor. The time of mists and harvest approaches,” Robin replied.

 

“Can’t be,” Rose commented, looking at the bright green leaves and grass.

 

“Yeah, yeah. All very poetic. But it's very green hereabouts, though, isn't it? Like I said, very sunny,” the Doctor told them.

 

“It really is a bit too sunny for Nottingham, isn’t it?” Rose agreed.

 

“You must excuse me. The Sheriff has issued a proclamation and tomorrow there is to be a contest to find the best archer in the land. And the bounty, it's an arrow made of pure gold,” Robin announced as if their odd behaviour was no consequence.

 

“And you’re going to just waltz right into what is obviously a trap?” Rose asked.

 

“Well, of course it’s a trap! But a contest to find the best archer in the land? There is no contest,” he replied, prompting another round of laughter from all of them.

 

“Right, that isn't even funny. That was bantering. I am totally against bantering,” the Doctor protested.

 

“Since when?” Rose demanded.

 

“I think you can guess.”

 

Robin and his men went to the competition wearing costumes as usual, but Rose and the Doctor decided to follow them there and watch.  When all was said and done, they discovered that the Sheriff had large armoured robots working for him, and Robin, the Doctor, and Rose were all arrested in the dungeon.

 

“Splendid. Enchained,” Robin grumbled.

 

“Yep,” Rose responded.

 

“Trussed up like turkey-cocks. Thanks to your  _ husband. _ ”

 

“Shut it, Hoodie. I saved your life,” the Doctor countered.

 

“I had the situation well in hand,” Robin argued.

 

“Long-haired ninny versus robot killer knights? I know where I'd put my money.”

 

“If you had not betrayed me, I would have been triumphant.”

 

“You would have been a little puff of smoke and ashes.”

 

“Oh, ha!”

 

“You'd have been floating around in tiny little laughing bits in people's goblets.”

 

“Balderdash. Ha!” Robin shouted and started laughing.

 

“Oh, right, here we go. It's laughing time,” the Doctor groaned, rolling his eyes.

 

“Well, you amuse me, grey old man.”

 

Rose sighed as the two of them continued arguing, asking for the guards to execute each other.  Robin kept laughing, simply because it annoyed the Doctor and he kept complaining about being forced to listen to it.

 

“Oi! Will the two of you shut it?! Seriously, how old are you? You’re both acting like a couple of ten year olds.  We’ll be here forever at the rate you two are going and I’ve got better things to do than starve to death in here,” Rose demanded.

 

“Well, I'll tell you one thing. I'd last a lot longer than this desiccated man-crone,” Robin added, insisting on having the last word.

 

“Really?” the Doctor prompted.

 

“Really.”

 

“Well, you know what? I think you'll find I have a certain genetic advantage. Oh!” the Doctor told him, but instantly stopped arguing when Rose kicked him.

 

“Honestly, Doctor. You regenerated looking closer to your age, but acting like a spoilt child.  So, this certainly isn’t our first time in this situation.  What’s the plan this time?” 

 

“Sorry, love. Plan, right, of course I have a plan,” the Doctor told her.

 

“I too have a plan,” Robin interrupted.

 

“Alright, gigglepuss, what’s your plan?” Rose asked Robin.

 

“Why him?” the Doctor pouted.

 

“Because after three or four centuries with you, I know most of your plans,” Rose told him.

 

“I am biding my time,” Robin announced.

 

“Thank you, Prince of Thieves. How about you, Doctor?” Rose sighed.

 

“You know I have a plan.  I always have a plan,” he insisted.

 

“And that plan doesn’t involve either of us having a sonic, yeah? Because the Sheriff took yours and swiped my purse as well, so that ain’t gonna work this time,” Rose informed him.

 

“Ok. Why would you have a purse? A sonic goes in transdimensional pockets,” he argued.

 

“Doctor, this may come as a shock to you, but women’s clothing, particularly in pre-twenty-second century rarely has pockets, transdimensional or otherwise.”

 

They were all suddenly shocked by the sound of the door unlocking and a guard coming into the cell.

 

“What can we do for you, mate?” Rose asked him casually.

 

“The Sheriff himself commanded me to listen, to find out which of you is the true ringleader.”

 

“Ah, so he can do the interrogating. Very wise,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Excellent. He will get nothing from me,” Robin told them.

 

“No, no, no, no. no. He will get nothing from me, because interrogation, that's where I always turn the tables. You see, that's my plan,” the Doctor argued.

 

The boys continued arguing as the guard released Rose from the chains and she winked at them as she followed the guard out of the cell.

 

**\-------------------**

 

Rose was left alone with a man she could only presume was the Sheriff.  He was dressed richly and the table in the room was set with a lot of food.  There was a large fireplace with a warm fire making the room seem fairly cozy.

 

“Eat, my Lady, eat. Let it not be said that the Sheriff of Nottingham is a poor host,” he told her as if he hadn’t just had her locked up on a stone floor a few moments ago.

 

“I’m fine thanks. The Doctor always takes me somewhere nice for dinner after we’ve been imprisoned.  His way of apologizing, you know?” Rose answered, sitting in one of the large chairs.

 

“I like you. You're refreshingly direct,” he said with a nod.

 

“Yeah well, get that from my mum.”

 

The Sheriff was sorting through the various items he had found in the Doctor’s jacket pockets and her small purse.  The two sonic screwdrivers were set beside each other, along with the large spoon, some snack food packets, a ball of string, and a hairbrush.

 

“Taken from your friend's strange tunic. An intriguing gallimaufry. Including these wands. Evidently things of awesome power. Tell me, are you from beyond the stars?” he questioned.

 

“Not just his tunic.  Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to go through a woman’s purse?” she chastised. “As far as where I’m from, originally, geographically, not too far from here. But then, I’m not the one with an army of robots at my command.”

 

**\----------------**

 

“I'm sorry?” the Doctor questioned incredulously as Robin demanded that he pretend to be ill.

 

“No. Beat your breast. Moan. Groan as though twenty devils possessed your guts.”

 

“What for?”

 

“So as to attract the attention of that gargoyle-faced guard.”

 

“It's your plan. You moan,” he protested.

 

“No, no. No, it won't work.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Oh, because you're clearly more advanced in years and you have a sickly aspect to you,” Robin argued.

 

“I have a what?”

 

“You're as pale as milk. It's the way with Scots. They're strangers to vegetables.”

 

“Have you seen my wife? There’s nothing weak or sickly about me if I can keep up with her, thanks. I'm not moaning. You moan,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“Fine. If you want something doing,” Robin acquiesced and groaned loudly. “Can I rely upon you to do the rest?”

 

“Yes, yes, I know the drill,” the Doctor sighed.  He had done this type of thing hundreds of times, he just didn’t want to follow the disagreeable young man’s directions.  Advanced in years indeed.  Well, alright, he was well over a thousand years old, but for a Time Lord that was barely middle aged.  He had run through his regenerations far more quickly than those boring old bureaucrats on Gallifrey.

 

“What is this din?” the guard demanded through the window in the door.

 

“No business of yours, cur,” the Doctor shouted, then added to Robin, “Speak up. I can't hear you.”

 

“What ails him?”

 

“None of your business,” the Doctor answered.

 

Clearly frustrated, the guard unlocked the door and approached them.  Robin rolled on the floor as much as he could manage with the chains on him and continued moaning loudly.

 

“I said, what ails him?” the guard demanded.

 

“Well, if you must know, he's having a nervous breakdown,” the Doctor told him.

 

“A what?”

 

“He's like this whenever he's in any kind of danger. He just can't seem to cope. He gets so afraid. He goes into a kind of fit. I honestly believe that he may die of sheer fright, like some tiny, shivering little mouse. Oh, God, I think he's soiled himself.”

 

“Let him die. It will save us the trouble of executing him,” the guard said dismissively.

 

“And what will happen to the reward?” the Doctor asked, piquing the man’s interest suddenly.

 

“Reward?”

 

“Oh, God, I shouldn't have said that.”

 

“Tell me!” the man insisted.

 

“He carries a vital message. The Prince has promised a bounty,” the Doctor lied.

 

“A big one?” he asked excitedly.

 

“An enormous one.”

 

Robin mumbled something to get the man’s attention.

 

“What's that? Say again?” he asked, leaning close to his face.

 

“Come closer,” he said as if he was about to reveal in incredible secret. “Your breath stinks like a serpent, has anyone ever told you that?” he told him before head butting him hard enough to knock the man unconscious.

 

“Soiled myself?” Robin protested the Doctor’s earlier comments.

 

“Did you? That's getting into character. Okay, keys,” the Doctor answered, moving onto the next step in getting out of there.

 

They both fought over who would reach the keys as they wrestled with their feet and eventually knocked the ring of heavy keys down the nearby drain, completely out of reach.

 

“Well, there is a bright side,” the Doctor sighed as he considered how they were going to get the chains off.

 

“Which is?” Robin questioned.

 

“Rose didn't see that.” 

 

**\-----------------**

 

“But enough of tawdry matters. Let us talk of softer, sweeter things,” the Sheriff said as he ate some of the feast that had been laid out.

 

“Like what for example?” Rose asked. She knew she’d probably have to do a bit of flirting to get him to reveal the plan, but since he seemed to be trying to seduce her, there was no reason she couldn’t play a little hard to get.

 

“Like what a lovely creature like you is doing with those two rogues,” he said, eyeing her lustfully.

 

“Nah, boring topic.  I’m a bit more interested in those robot things downstairs.  How’s someone like you get to be in control of that kind of thing?  You must be really powerful,” she said, stroking his ego just a bit.

 

“Once upon a time, there was a brave and clever and handsome man,” he told her.

 

“I can just about picture him. I don't even have to close my eyes.”

 

“Unappreciated by his royal master.”

 

“Guessing that would be Prince John?” Rose asked.

 

“The very same.”

 

“Then something happened to change all that for you?”

 

“The skyship came to Earth in a fury of fire. A craft from the heavenly spheres, bedight with twinkling lights and miracles beyond imagining. The most beautiful thing the brave and handsome man had ever seen,” he admitted, still awestruck by his own good fortune.

 

“And I suppose the mechanical men saw you as their natural leader?”

 

“It was I and I alone to whom the mechanical men then imparted their secrets. Shortly, I shall be the most powerful man in the realm. King in all but name, for Nottingham is not enough,” he told her.

 

“Right, standard take over the world plan then, is it?” Rose surmised.

 

“The world!” he shouted as he stabbed his dagger into the table top harshly. 

 

“What are you just hanging about for then? Shouldn’t you and the robots be off taking over the planet?” Rose asked, sure that there had to be something wrong with the spaceship or the robots that was holding them back.

 

“Enough questions. I'm impatient to hear your story,” he insisted, clearly unwilling to reveal any weakness.

 

“Story? What makes you think I have a story?”

 

“What are you doing with this?” he asked, holding up the sonic that he had found in her purse.

 

“It was a gift. Really quite handy to have around,” she told him.

 

“You didn’t get this from just anywhere.  I demand to know how you came upon such a powerful device as this.”

 

“Why’d you want me in here? Clearly the man I came with would know far more than me about these things,” she questioned, trying to change the subject.

 

“Clearly, the ruler of the world needs a consort,” he said, stepping a little too far into Rose’s comfort zone.

 

“Hate to break it to you, but I’m married.”

 

**\--------------------------------**

 

The Doctor and Robin Hood managed to find their way to some blacksmith’s tools and broke the chains that were holding them together before going in search of Rose and the Sheriff.  Rose had relayed to the Doctor what she had learned about the plan so far.

 

When the two men came across a door that looked somewhat out of place, they went through and found some kind of futuristic control room.

 

“At last. Something real. No more fairy tales,” the Doctor cheered as he got to work checking the various read outs.

 

“What is this place?” Robin questioned in awe.

 

“A spaceship. More twenty ninth century than twelfth. Data banks, data banks, data banks. It disguised itself as a twelfth century castle. It merges into the culture, tries to keep a low profile, so no one notices. That explains the robot knights. But the engines. The engines are damaged. They're leaking radiation into the local atmosphere, creating a temporary climate of staggering benevolence,” the Doctor explained.

 

“I beg pardon?” Robin asked, clearly not understanding any of it.

 

“I told you. It's too sunny. It's too green. And there is even an evil sheriff to oppress the locals. This explains everything, even you,” he replied.

 

“It does?” 

 

“Well, what does every oppressed peasant workforce need? The illusion of hope. Some silly story to get them through the day, lull them into docility, and keep them working. Ship's data banks. Full of every myth and legend you could hope for, including Robin Hood. Isn't it time you came clean with me? You're not real and you know it. Look at you. Perfect eyes, perfect teeth. Nobody has a jawline like that. You're as much a part of what is happening here as the Sheriff and his metal knights. You're a robot,” the Doctor insisted as he had the computer display the legend of Robin Hood.  He relayed his conclusions to his wife as he sensed that she was headed in his direction.

 

“You dare to accuse me of collusion with that villain, the Sheriff?” Robin questioned in shock.

 

“I dare.”

 

“You false-tongued knave. I should have skewered you when I had the chance.”

 

“I would like to see you try,” the Doctor challenged.

 

The robots blasted the doors open at that moment, allowing their entrance along with the Sheriff and Rose.

 

“Why'd you just destroy your own door?” Rose wondered.

 

“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” the Doctor rambled dismissively, as if the whole thing would just disappear once he had figured out what was happening.

 

“Surrender, outlaw,” the Sheriff ordered.

 

“Very good,” the Doctor said.

 

“Kill him. Kill Robin Hood.”

 

“You can drop all that stuff now, Sheriff,” the Doctor interrupted.

 

“Love, what if you're wrong?” Rose questioned, not wanting to be responsible for allowing them to kill their new friend.

 

“Come on, Rose, it makes perfect sense now!”

 

One of the robots fired at Robin, just knocking him down, but Rose moved to help protect the young man.  She was surprised however when he grabbed her around the waist and backed them both toward a nearby window.

 

“Oi! Just what do you think you're doing?” Rose protested.

 

“Surviving,” he told her.

 

“Hands off!” the Doctor shouted, but couldn't reach them before Robin pulled her to tumble out of the window with him.  

 

They both landed in the moat water below. He could feel that she was still alive and rather unhappy at being manhandled, but indicated that she would come back with reinforcements to help him take the whole thing down.

 

“Yeah, sorry about the girl. Such a pretty thing. What a queen she would have made,” the Sheriff told him.

 

“That's my wife whose life you're dismissing so cavalierly. Now, stop pretending. You and your fancy robots. I get it. I understand.”

 

“Oh, so you too know my plans?”

 

“You and your robots plundering the surrounding countryside for all it's worth. Gold. Gold. Of course. Gold. You are creating a matrix of gold to repair the engine circuitry,” the Doctor deducted.

 

“This is the scheme the Mechanicals have devised. Soon this skyship will depart. Destination, London. There I will obliterate the King and take my rightful place as ruler of this sceptred isle.”

 

“It won't work. There's not a chance. I've seen the instruments. There's been too much damage. You are stoking up a gigantic bomb!” the Doctor warned before he was subsequently knocked unconscious by one of the robots.

 

The next thing he was aware of was the sound of robots reporting the engine status.  It would never be enough to make orbit and would most likely either blow up on the spot, or blow up in the sky and rain down in a giant fireball over an even larger area.  For the moment, he was in chains and needed a plan.

 

\----------------------------------

 

Rose was taken back to Robin Hood’s hideout where he demanded to know what was going on.  It was clear to him that Rose and the Doctor knew more about him than they should and the display of his life as some kind of legend was disturbing to say the least.

 

“Alright.  I’ll tell you what I can.  You may have guessed that the Doctor and I aren’t exactly locals.  I mean, I was born in London, but temporally not local,” she tried to explain and sighed as she gathered her thoughts.  “We are from the future.  We travel in that box.  The story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men is famous, but as far as anyone knew, it was completely fictional.  It’s why the Doctor thinks, or thought, that you and the Sheriff were part of the illusion created by those robots to fit in while they fix their ship.”

 

“You say that the two of you travel in time, but who are you?” he demanded.

 

“Just travellers, I promise.  We try to help people wherever we go.  Lately though, it feels like we’re doing more harm than good.  He tries to help everyone though.  He used to say we were the stuff of legend.  Seems so long ago now,” Rose admitted.

 

“You know my story, I think it’s only fair that I hear yours,” Robin requested.

 

“Shouldn’t we go and stop them from taking over the world?” Rose suggested.

 

“It can wait until morning.  Give your husband some time to save us all himself,” he told her with a smirk.

 

Rose could feel that he was unconscious at the moment anyway and decided to tell Robin and his men a few of the adventures that she and her husband had been through.

 

“I all started while I was working in a shop.”

 

\------------------------------------

 

The Doctor, with the help of the peasants who had been imprisoned and forced to work as slaves to the robots and Sheriff, managed to use reflective metal plates and shields to destroy the robots with their own lasers. Once all of the robots in the area had been incapacitated, he sent the prisoners to run for it. He knew there were probably still a few robots left, as well as the Sheriff, but Rose had informed him that she and Robin were on their way back.

 

“Engine capacity at eighty two percent,” one of the robots announced to the Sheriff as he entered the room. All of the collected gold was being melted down there to make replacement ship parts, so the room was filled with fires and metal tools scattered around.

 

“You are indeed an ingenious fellow, Doctor. But do you really think your peasants' revolt can stop me?” the Sheriff asked.

 

“I rather think you're the revolting one around here. I'm bantering. I'm bantering. Listen to me. You don't have enough gold content to seal the engine breach. If you try and take off, you'll wipe out half of England.”

 

“Liar! From my sky vessel, I shall rule omnipotent,” he protested.

 

“You pudding-headed primitive, shut down the engines. What you're doing will alter the course of history,” the Doctor warned.

 

“I sincerely hope so, or I wouldn't be bothering,” he said as the two chased each other around the room.  

 

“Listen to me. It doesn't have to end like this. Shut it all down and I'll do what I can,” the Doctor told him.

 

“That is not going to happen,” he insisted.

 

“What I want to know is how that twenty-ninth century space ship ended up here,” Rose interrupted, but he couldn’t see where she was speaking from.

 

“And how would I know that?” the Sheriff called back to the disembodied voice.

 

“Because you’re in charge of the robots.  You’re all in disguise to fit into the world here, even Robin's one of yours,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“What did you say?”

 

“He's one of your tin-headed puppets, just like these brutes here,” the Doctor said, nodding toward one of the robotic knights.

 

“Robin Hood is not one of mine.”

 

“Of course he is. He's a robot, created by your mechanical mates.”

 

“Why would they do that?” the Sheriff questioned logically.

 

“To pacify the locals, give them false hope. He's the opiate of the masses.”

 

“Why would we create an enemy to fight us? What sense would that make? That would be a terrible idea.”

 

“Yes! Yes, it would. Wouldn't it? Yes, that would be a rubbish idea. Why would you do that? But he can't be. He's not real. He's a legend!” the Doctor said, suddenly confused by his own assertions.

 

“You are too kind! And this legend does not come alone,” Robin called from above them.  Rose was standing by his side, all too ready to help save the day again.

 

“Yeah, before you dig yourself an even deeper hole, love, you might want to listen,” Rose told him.  She found a rope to swing down to the lower level while Robin used his dagger stuck in a wall hanging to slow his decent down.

 

The Doctor ran over to check on his wife while Robin and the Sheriff faced off in a sword fight.

 

“Are you alright?” he asked worriedly.

 

“Of course, average day for us really.  Now, I did some scans back at the TARDIS while I was gone.  Those boys are all real.  They’ve got histories and everything that weren’t part of the stories.  But that ship is from the future.  They’ve got copies of stories from the future in their data banks, so it’s not just advanced technology travelling here.  And that ship hasn’t got time travel tech, so how did they get here?” Rose told him.

 

“Are you suggesting that someone sent them here on purpose?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“It’s possible.  Could have been an accident, I suppose, but then why make sure they had Earth history in the computers?” she reasoned.

 

“The whole castle is about to blow, so we’d best get out of here as soon as possible,” the Doctor warned.

 

“Looks like Robin is just about done with the Sheriff,” Rose commented as they watched him use the same tactic that the Doctor had earlier to knock the Sheriff down into a crucible of molten gold.

 

“Learn something?” Rose called to him.

 

“From the best,” Robin replied with a nod to the Doctor.

 

They all ran from the castle before the space ship blasted its way into the air.  It was obvious, however, that it was struggling.  The Doctor and Rose managed to hit just the right spot with the golden arrow from the tournament to make sure that the ship exploded high enough in the sky that the falling debris would be relatively harmless.

 

The group of Robin and his men along with Rose and the Doctor made their way back to the hideout in Sherwood Forest.  The time travellers said their usual goodbyes to the people they had met, but Robin insisted on seeing them off at the doors of the TARDIS.

 

“So, is it true, Doctor?” he asked.

 

“Is what true?”

 

“That in the future I am forgotten as a real man? I am but a legend?” Robin clarified.

 

“You doubting me?” Rose protested.

 

“I'm afraid it is,” the Doctor said, taking his wife’s hand.

 

“Hmm. Good,” Robin said with a nod.  “History is a burden. Stories can make us fly.”

 

“I'm still having a little trouble believing yours, I'm afraid.”

 

“Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear…”

 

“No,” the Doctor conceded, but Rose could see where this was going and squeezed his hand.

 

“Until one night he is moved to steal a TARDIS? Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight. Rose told me your stories,” he continued.

 

“She should not have told you any of that,” he scolded with a chastising look.

 

“Well. Well, once the story started, she could hardly stop herself. You are her hero, I think,” Robin told him.

 

“I'm not a hero. She saves me more often than not,” he argued.

 

“Well, neither am I. But if we all keep pretending to be. Ha-ha! Perhaps others will be heroes in our name. Perhaps we will all be the stuff of legend. And may those stories never end,” Robin insisted with a knowing look at Rose.

 

She had admitted to Robin that they were faltering.  That they questioned the basis of the morality that the Doctor had lived with long before she joined him in his quest to save the universe.  Were they right to make those decisions about who should win and lose all the time? Did the Time Lords have it a little bit right in not interfering? Yes, they got a lot of things wrong surrounding the Time War, but their overall plan of not interfering when you travelled through time might prevent some of the chaos that seemed to follow in their wake. Rose was shaken from her thoughts by Robin shaking the Doctor’s hand.

 

“Goodbye, Doctor, Time Lord of Gallifrey, and his lovely wife, Dame Rose of the Powell Estate,” Robin said with a wink.

 

“Goodbye, Robin Hood, Earl of Luxley,” the Doctor replied with a small bow and Rose curtsied prettily.

 

“And remember, Doctor. I'm just as real as you are.”

 

Rose checked the exterior camera to make sure that their little present to Robin was waiting behind the TARDIS.  “Knew you liked him in the end,” she teased.

 

“Well, I'm leaving him a present, aren't I?”

 

“Those romantic hearts that I love are still in there,” she told him as she wrapped her arms around him.

 

The Doctor pulled the lever to dematerialize so that Robin would discover Marian waiting for him.  He had found the girl in with the peasants that were melting down gold to repair the ship.  Chatting with each other, he learned her story and that she was looking for Robin.  Reuniting them seemed like the right thing to do.  He knew, after all, just how painful it was to be separated from your soulmate. That seemed so long ago now.  Their lives were so much simpler then and their path clearer.  Now, he felt as though they were walking through fog.  Never quite sure if they were doing the right thing.

 

“Romantic, hmm? Well, if that’s what you’re looking for, how about dinner on Barcelona, dancing under the frozen waves of Women Wept, and then, I warm you up back in our bedroom?” he suggested, nuzzling her ear.

 

“Mmmm give a bloke a few centuries to learn his wife’s tastes and maybe he can learn something,” she teased and turned her head to kiss him.

 

“Big Time Lord brain has to be good for something.  Go get dressed, my love, and I’ll get us to Barcelona.”


	7. Time Heist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I had a bit of writer's block. A big thank you to Danielle, who filled in as my beta for a while there! TheDoctorMulder is back now and helping me out again. The suggestion of changing the POV for this episode certainly helped, so I hope you like the changes.

Rose was alone in the TARDIS. She really hoped that this plan would work.  The Doctor had decided that because of the power of the Bad Wolf in her head protecting her, the required mind wipe for this mission wouldn’t work.  Not to mention, the trick with thinking the teleports would kill them might trigger her protective instincts.  So, here she sat, watching through the TARDIS monitors from a video feed.  They had to block their telepathic connection while the Doctor and Clara were inside the bank, and Rose couldn’t bear not knowing what was happening the whole time.  So, the Doctor had implanted a small video transmitter into his own head for her sake.  She could watch, but swore that she wouldn’t interfere.

 

The phone call had surprised them, very few people knew the number for the TARDIS’ phone.  When the person on the line was someone that they didn’t know, they were even more puzzled.  She was startled out of the memory as she heard the Doctor and Clara screaming after the memory worms had done their thing.

 

“Granddad? What’s with the memory worms?” Clara asked worriedly as she tried to catch her breath.

 

“Don't touch it,” he replied, obviously searching for his connection with Rose as his eyes darted around the room.  It was disconcerting seeing from his perspective, but not seeing his face.  Rose wished that she could look into those ancient eyes as she waited anxiously for this to all be over.

 

“Where are we? How did we get here? And where’s gran?” Clara questioned.

 

There were two other people in the room with them, seeming just as confused.  The man, Rose knew was called Psi. He had some kind of computer hardware installed in the side of his head which was really helpful for this mission. The woman next to him was named Saibra. She could change her genetic structure to match what she touched. As the Doctor looked at her, she seemed to shift forms for a moment before dropping the memory worm from her own hands.

 

“Who are you? Sorry, what's going on? I don't understand,” Psi said, looking around the room.

 

“Argh! What is that thing?” Saibra asked as she stared at the worm in disgust.

 

“It's a memory worm. Deletes your memories,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Sorry, but what happened to your face? Did you see her face?” Clara wondered.

 

“How did I get here?” Saibra questioned.

 

“The same way we all did, but we've all forgotten,” the Doctor told them.

 

“And who are you?” she insisted.

 

At that, the recording that the Doctor had made before all of this began started to play for them from the case in the room where they had been hiding.  It began with recordings of each of them consenting to the mind wipe, then followed the instructions from the manipulated voice of the “architect.” 

 

_ “This is a recorded message. I am the Architect. Your last memory is of receiving a contact from an unknown agency. Me. Everything since has been erased from your minds. Now, pay close attention to this briefing,” _ the recording told them as a screen displayed blueprints and such.   _ “This is the Bank of Karabraxos, the most secure bank in the galaxy. A fortress for the super-rich. If you can afford your own star system, this is where you keep it. No one sets foot on the planet without protocols. All movement is monitored, all air consumption regulated. DNA is authenticated at every stage. Intruders will be incinerated. Each vault, buried deep in the earth, is accessed by a drop-slot at the planet's surface. It's atomically sealed, an unbreakable lock. The atoms have all been scrambled. Your presence on this planet is unauthorised. A team will have been despatched to terminate you.” _

 

At that statement, they could hear security through the door.  With the instructions given by the recording, the group escaped from the room and left the guards to find the memory worms.  The Doctor grabbed the items from the case. They were told that their task was to rob the bank and once they were free from immediate pursuit, the Doctor stopped everyone to evaluate his resources.

 

“Okay, okay, okay. Stop, stop, stop. Far enough. Augmented human. Computer augmented, yes? Mainframe in your head?” he asked Psi.

 

“I'm a gamer. Sorry, who put you in charge?” he answered.

 

“You're a liar. That's a prison code on your neck,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“I'm a hacker slash bank robber.”

 

“Good. This is a good day to be a bank robber. Mutant human. What kind of mutant?” he continued, questioning Saibra.

 

“Like he says, why are you in charge now?” she argued.

 

“It's my special power. What's yours?” he responded.

 

With a sigh, Saibra showed them what she was capable of by taking Clara’s hand and copying her perfectly.  When she let go, she turned back into herself.

 

“I touch living cells, I can replicate the owner.”

 

“Your face, when we first saw you-” Clara began.

 

“I touched the worm,” Saibra acknowledged.

 

“You can replicate their clothes too?” Clara wondered, sure that her outfit hadn’t been part of her genetic make up.

 

“I wear a hologram shell.”

 

The Doctor looked at the items they had been given.  He recognized some of what it was for and found a device for storing biological material.

 

“Human cells. DNA from a customer, maybe? A disguise to get us in?” he suggested.

 

At that, Saibra took on the form of an older man and they stayed close to her as they made their way around to the main entrance of the bank.

 

Rose watched as the Doctor grasped Clara’s hand and looked to be having a private, telepathic conversation.  She was frustrated that she couldn’t hear them, but guessed that they were wondering about the location of the TARDIS and herself.  He had told her that he would feel that she was alive, but wouldn’t be able to get any of her emotions or talk to her at all.

 

They were startled from their private conversation by an alarm and security gates falling over all of the exits.  The computer announced a lockdown as security entered the main lobby, following a woman who appeared to be in charge, and escorting a tall alien of some kind in chains. Rose knew what this was and its arrival made her both terrified and hopeful.

 

Everyone watched in terror as a man was approached, accused and telepathically scanned by the alien.  It was announced that his accounts would be deleted and his brain wiped for even having the intention to try anything nefarious.

 

The customer held his head in pain as the alien locked onto him.

 

“It's wiping his mind. Turning his brain into soup,” the Doctor whispered to his companions.

 

“We've got to help him,” Clara responded.

 

“He's gone already. It's over.”

 

“He's in agony, look at him,” she protested.

 

“Those aren't tears, Clara. That's soup. Our private conversation may have been detected earlier. Best not do that again for now,” he explained.

 

Rose tried to calm herself after the gruesome sight.  That could potentially happen to her husband, granddaughter, and their new friends.  Yes, there were ways out, but they might be too afraid to use them or not have time.  Not to mention how awful it was for the creature itself.  They were peaceful beings, with no desire to murder people like that.

 

She watched as they accessed the account of the stolen identity and debated whether or not to use the bomb they were given from the safety-deposit box.  Psi hacked into the computer to get the bank’s schematics and the Doctor decided that they were meant to blast through the floor. Everyone argued that they would be killed, but the Doctor convinced them that they must have agreed to this before they started, so whatever it was that they most wanted in the universe had to be here for them as payment.  It turned out that they didn’t need to be worried about being blown up by the bomb after all, since it dimensionally displaced the floor rather than blasting the pieces through the room as shrapnell.

 

As soon as they moved beneath where the floor used to be, the Doctor reversed the bomb, covering their tracks from security.

 

**“** Well, so, what are we supposed to do now? What's the plan?” Saibra asked as they moved down the basement hallway.

 

“I don't know. The Architect set all this up. It should make sense. My personal plan is that a thing will probably happen quite soon,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Ah, so that's it. That's your plan?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“A thing will happen?” Saibra questioned doubtfully.

 

“A thing. Probably.”

 

The Doctor was proven right when Clara spotted a case matching the first one they’d seen.  It had been difficult getting them in there without being detected.  They couldn’t have them removed or discovered before their whole mission started.

 

“There you go. Thing time.”

 

“How does he get the cases here?” Clara wondered.

 

“By breaking into the bank in advance of breaking into the bank,” the Doctor reasoned.

 

“Well, how did he do that? And if he can do that, why does he need us?”

 

“Not our problem,” he told her, knowing that there were any number of reasons why one might be able to break into certain areas, but not get any further without help.

 

“Well, what is our prob-prob-prob-prob-pr?” Psi stuttered mechanically.

 

“You okay?” Clara asked him.

 

“Drive glitch. It's fine,” he replied.

 

“Guilt is our problem. Guilt, in this bank, is fatal. The Teller can hear it. Ever since that first case was opened, we've been targets. The more we know about why we're here, the louder our guilt screams. That's why we wiped our memories. For our own safety. Now, once I open this, I can't close it again,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Would it be safer if only one of us learned it?” Psi asked.

 

“I'm waiting for you to volunteer,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Er, why me?”

 

“Because you didn't need that memory worm, did you? You're half-computer. You can perform a manual delete. You  _ can _ clear your thoughts.”

 

“Okay,” he agreed before opening the case. “I don't know what it is. You may as well have a look. Well, what are they?”

 

The Doctor looked into the case and examined the six tubes. “Not a clue,” he told them.

 

“Hmm, interesting,” Saibra said.

 

“What is?” the Doctor asked.

 

“You're lying,” she insisted.

 

“Er, why would he be lyi-lyi-lyi-lying? Ugh. Sorry. Stress. Drains the batteries,” Psi stuttered again.

 

The Doctor suggested that he recharge through a nearby computer interface just before an alarm sounded.  Leaving Clara with him for a moment, he and Saibra scouted ahead.

 

“Aren't you going to ask me?” the Doctor prompted once they were on their own.

 

“Why did you lie? Those hardware things, you know what they are,” Saibra replied.

 

“Exit strategy of sorts. How did you know I was lying?” he wondered.  The Doctor had always considered himself fairly good at hiding his intentions.

 

“I've had a lot of faces, I find them easy to read.”

 

“Quite a gift,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Gift?” she questioned incredulously, clearly feeling that it was more of a curse.

 

“It got us in here,” he argued.

 

“Mutant gene. No one can touch me. If they do, I transform. Touch me, Doctor, and you'll be looking at yourself. I am alone.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Could you trust someone who looked back at you out of your own eyes?” she explained.

 

They found the prisoner who had been captured earlier once Psi and Clara caught up with them.  They all agreed that no matter what happened, none of them wanted to end up like that.  The man’s skull had caved in from the sudden lack of anything useful in his head, only alive by the most basic standards.  Of course, the running started again when another alarm sounded that they had been detected.

 

Coming across the cage where they kept the Teller, the Doctor explained that they all needed to keep their thoughts hidden and their minds as blank as possible.  Once it locked onto them, it would never let go.  As they ran through the hallways, it eventually locked onto Saibra.  She had gotten the idea that the devices from the first case would kill them rather than let them turn into mindless zombies.

 

“Atomic shredder,” he told her.

 

“Painless?” she asked.

 

“And instant,” he added.

 

“When you meet the Architect, promise me something. Kill him,” she told the Doctor as she took the device and made her decision.

 

“I hate him, but I can't make that promise.”

 

“A good man. I left it late to meet one of those,” Saibra sighed just before using the device and disappearing.

 

That was Rose’s signal that it was time to head out of the TARDIS.  She would miss a bit of what was happening on the video, but she needed to go explain a couple of things to Saibra.  Upon leaving her home for the other ship they had in orbit of the bank, she saw the young woman looking around in confusion and trying to catch her breath.

 

“It’s alright, I’m a friend.  You’re fine,” Rose assured her as she did a quick scan with her sonic just to be sure.

 

“What’s going on? Why aren’t I dead?” she asked.

 

“This is part of the plan, I promise,” Rose told her.

 

“Are you the architect?” Saibra demanded.

 

“Nope.  I’m the Doctor’s wife.  And he’s going to need you back down there soon, I’m guessing,” she explained.

 

As Rose showed her the security uniforms they’d borrowed, Psi also appeared on the ship.  Karabraxos had told them what she remembered happening, so they knew they had to get them back into the bank to free the Doctor and Clara at the right time.  As the solar storm started, the pair dressed in the uniforms and teleported down so they would be in position at the right time.

 

Rose went back to watching once they were gone and saw her husband retrieve the payments for Saibra and Psi from their boxes.  A gene suppressant for Saibra, to release her from the curse and a neophyte circuit for Psi that would restore all of the memories that he had lost of his friends and family.  Of course, that didn’t explain why they were there, so the Doctor and Clara continued on toward the private vault of Karabraxos.

 

They came face to face with the female head of security and two guards who Rose knew were Saibra and Psi.  The Teller was with them, a clear threat.

 

**“** Are you ready for  _ your _ close-up? If you're thinking of ways to escape, the Teller will know before you've even made a move. You'll never be bothered by all that thinking again,” Ms. Delphox said.

 

“Useful species,” the Doctor told her, starting to guess just why he might be here.

 

“Last of its kind, and we've signed an exclusive deal.”

 

“Must be noisy inside its head. Painful to listen to so much chatter, so many secrets. Must drive it wild. How can you force it to obey?” he asked.

 

“Oh, everything has a price tag, I think you'll find. The storm's getting worse. The customers are leaving. Director Karabraxos will be concerned. Our jobs will be on the line,” she responded.

 

“You're scared,” the Doctor realized.

 

“Oh, I'm terrified. I have the disadvantage of knowing Karabraxos personally.”

 

“If you don't like your boss, why stay?” he wondered.

 

“My face fits,” she responded cryptically.  “Now if you'll excuse me, I must take the Teller to its hibernation. You two, dispose of our guests.”

 

The guards pushed the time travellers against the wall once they were gone and the Doctor proceeded to try and talk his way out of trouble once again.

 

“Don't do this. I'm having a very bad day, and I do not want to be pushed around.”

 

“You're wrong,” one of the guards told him.

 

“Wrong?”

 

“It's not that bad a day. And you're being very slow,” he insisted as he began to unfasten the Doctor’s handcuffs.

 

“Why are you undoing my handcuffs?” he questioned as the man transformed into Saibra before his eyes. “Saibra?”

 

At that, the second guard removed his helmet to reveal Psi. “It looked like death. It was actually a teleporter,” he told them.

 

“Oh, my God,” Clara gasped and hugged him in thanks for saving her life earlier.

 

“Good, eh? You think we're dead, so the Teller thinks we're dead, and we play the creature at his own mind games,” Psi told them.

 

“No, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait. What? Sorry, sorry, what? You, you, you're, you're alive?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“Yeah, we're alive. Look at us. We're all alive,” Saibra assured him.

 

“No, no, no, no. Not dead. Alive.”

 

“There's an escape ship in orbit. Takes you right there. Oh, and there's a woman up there with this big blue box. Said she was your wife?” Psi told him.

 

“That she is.  Probably wouldn’t have been able to wipe her memory for this, and it’s always good to have backup.  Well, this is good, I suppose. You'll be able to resume the mission. Gene suppressant. Antidote for your condition. Memory giver. All your yesterdays,” the Doctor explained as he gave their friends the payments they wanted.  “There you go. Job done, paid in full. Clever old Architect.”

 

“Very clever,” Saibra agreed.

 

“I still hate him,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Me too. Your wife wouldn’t explain anything about that,” she said.

 

“How were you paid?” Psi wondered.

 

“I don't know. There's something in the private vault,” he told them as he led them all towards the vault.

 

The Doctor was a little surprised to find that Director Karabraxos looked exactly the same as Ms. Delphox, the head of security.  But it did explain her comment about her face fitting.  The woman cloned herself, feeling that she was the only one she could trust with security, but kept having to kill them when they failed.

 

“You're killing her? You just said,” Clara began to argue.

 

“Fired? I put all of the used clones into the incinerator. Can't have to many of moi scattered around.”

 

“Sorry, you don't get on with your own clone?” Psi questioned.

 

“She hates her own clones. She burns her own clones. Frankly, you're a career break for the right therapist. Shut up. Everybody, just, just shut up,” the Doctor shouted suddenly as he began to work out something.

 

“And what is this display now, as amusing as you are?” Karabraxos argued.

 

“Shut up. Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shutetty up up up. What, what did you say? What did you say? What did you say about your own eyes?” he demanded of Saibra.  “De-shut up. Say it again.”

 

“How can you trust someone if they look back at you out of your own eyes?” she guessed, not sure how her earlier words mattered now.

 

“I know one thing about the Architect. What is it that I know about the Architect? I know one thing. Something that I've known from the very start,” the Doctor told them all.

 

“What?” Clara asked.

 

“I hate him. He's overbearing, he's manipulative, he likes to think that he's very clever. I hate him! Clara, don't you see?” he shouted joyously and took a moment to strike a gong that was part of Karabraxos’ collection.

 

“I don’t hate him,” Rose mumbled to herself.  “He’s making a difference and saving not just the last of a species, but the soul of a woman on her death bed.”

 

Rose watched as he handed Karabraxos the number for the TARDIS phone that she would call much later to help set this up and the woman gathered what she could carry and fled the bank before the solar flare destroyed it all.  They were terrified with the Teller showed up in the vault a moment later and the Doctor offered his mind to it.  He didn’t remember why they came for sure, but he knew that it was likely to save the poor creature and needed to show it that intention telepathically.

 

They freed its mate that was locked in a cell in the vault and used the extra teleporters to get them all back up to the ship.  They flew the ship to a nearby planet that was free from any other sentient life and released the two aliens to live in peace.

 

Standing in the doorway, the Doctor held Rose in his arms.  They smiled as they watched the pair wander away.

 

“So much mental traffic in the universe. Solitude is the only peace,” he told Clara.

 

“Makes me glad that we’re only touch telepaths with anyone but immediate family,” Clara commented.

 

They said goodbye to their new friends, Saibra and Psi before dropping Clara back at her flat in time for her date.  Then, the couple were on their own once again.

 

“Wasn’t much fun staying out of it this time,” Rose pouted.

 

“Yeah.  I knew you were alright, but I missed having you with me.  Let’s not do that too often,” the Doctor agreed.  

 

“Well, what would you like to do together, then?” she asked him.

 

“Hmm. How about chips and sunny beaches on Barcelona?” he suggested, already inputting the coordinates.  

 

“Sounds suspiciously like a date,” she teased and skipped off to their room to get changed into a bathing suit.

 


	8. Caretaker - part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Here's the first part of Caretaker. I hope you like the modifications I've made. Obviously Clara isn't human in my version and she has a lot more people involved in her life than just the Doctor, so some things had to be different.

Rose and the Doctor, as well as River and Jamie, were excitedly doing what they had always done.  Namely, running across time and space, looking for trouble to solve, start, or generally take part in.  Both TARDIS crews would often take Clara along with them from time to time before returning her to her chosen life on Earth.  Of course, even while she was on Earth, doing her job as an English teacher, her extended family at Torchwood would often call her to help out with things as well.

 

So, despite her need for less sleep than the average human, Clara was finding it very difficult to keep up with it all.  Keeping her off world travels a secret from people at school and her new boyfriend, whom she worked with as well, was getting more and more difficult.  Despite that, she couldn’t give up the travelling.  Not only would she likely have her own TARDIS in the future, she would live for centuries, change her face from time to time, and above all else, she just loved it.

 

It wasn’t terribly surprising to her that there might be some kind of alien incursion at the school where she worked, what was surprising was that her family thought they could deal with it covertly. It started with the Doctor and her father pretending to be caretakers temporarily.  Then she spotted her mother filling in for the history teacher who had mysteriously gone on holiday.  To top it all off, her grandmother Rose was working in the office, helping the secretaries learn a new computer system.

 

“Do you know them?” Danny Pink asked her as she distractedly left the staff room.

 

“Know who?”

 

“The caretakers, the Smiths,” he clarified.

 

“Never seen them before in my life,” she lied.

 

“Bit intense looking that older one. Did you see those eyebrows? Did he wink at you?” Danny questioned.

 

“No, I think that was just a sort of general wink, you know? He winked at everybody. It was a general welcoming wink. Ah, I have, er, left some marking. Assembly. Chop-chop. Off you pop. Catch you in a bit. Excuse me,” she rambled before running off to confront them about interfering in her Earth bound life.

 

Bursting into the staff room again to glare at her father and grandfather, the Doctor beamed at her proudly. “So, you recognised us, then?”

 

“Dad, I don’t think changing our clothing is going to prevent her from recognizing us,” James told him with a roll of his eyes.

 

“You know, you didn’t talk to me like that before.  I think this regeneration has a bit of an attitude,” he commented.

 

“Yes, I did, you just didn’t notice.”

 

“This is your version of deep cover? Deep cover in my school? Why? Where's Atif, what have you done with him?” Clara demanded.

 

“Don’t worry about it, love, all of the displaced staff were just given free holidays for a week so that we could sort out something here.  They’re fine,” James insisted.

 

“Is it aliens? Oh, my God, is that why you're here? Are there aliens?” she asked worriedly.

 

“We will take care of it.  Don’t worry, now you’d better get going, class is starting,” James assured her.

 

“Are there aliens in this school?”

 

“Listen, it's lovely talking to you, but I've really got to get on. I'm a caretaker now. Look, I've got a brush,” the Doctor told her, trying to play his part.

 

“Doctor, is there an alien in this school?” Clara demanded.

 

“Yes, a whole family of Time Lords. Now, go. The walls need sponging and there's a sinister puddle.”

 

“You can't do this. You cannot pass yourself off as a real person among actual people,” she told him.

 

“You do it every day.  What makes you think that we can’t?” James challenged.

 

“Fine. Okay. One question. And you will answer this question. Are the kids safe?”

 

“No. Nobody is safe. But soon the answer will be yes, everybody is safe, if you let me get on. Now, pretend you don't know us. We'll explain it all later,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“I hate you,” she grumbled.

 

“That's fine. That's a perfectly normal reaction,” the Doctor called after her.

 

“I’m sure she’ll get over it.  Least I hope so,” James commented.

 

################

 

“  And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting,  _ still _ is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

           Shall be lifted—nevermore!” Kelvin read to the class during English period.

 

“The Raven is one of the most famous works of Edgar Allan Poe.  He was known for writing rather macabre works and even his own death is shrouded in mystery.  No one knows exactly what caused his death in 1849.  He was found raving in the streets, wearing someone else’s clothing,” Clara explained.

 

“Well, not many people know what happened,” River interrupted from the doorway.

 

“I’m sorry?” Clara questioned as she turned to look worriedly at her mother.

 

“It was all Reynolds’ fault really, those boys should never have-” River continued, but was quickly stopped by Clara before she started sounding like a lunatic.

 

“Was there something you needed, Professor Song?” Clara asked, using her mother’s alias for their little charade while at the school.

 

“Not at all.  I was just passing by and heard the lovely recitation of one of my favourite poems and had to stop and listen,” River replied with a smile and the bell rang to signal the end of class.

 

“Right, that's it. Well done, Kelvin. Get going. See you all in a couple of days. Thanks very much,” Clara told the class, a bit flustered by her mother’s interruption.

 

“Miss Tyler, what about our homework?” Kelvin asked.

 

“Who asks for homework? Amateur,” she responded, earning a wink from River.

 

#############

 

Over the next couple of days, Clara noticed her family placing several scanning devices around the schoolyard and hallways.  Clearly they were looking for something, but none of them would tell her what.

 

She also noticed her granddad speaking very rudely to Danny, insisting that since he used to be a soldier, he must be the PE teacher rather than Maths.  It frustrated her because she had learned a lot about him recently and he was a good man.  She was sulking about it in the hall when her father stopped to talk to her.

 

“You know, the kids around here tend to gossip,” he commented, startling her for a moment.

 

“Oh, um yeah.  That’s kids,” she replied.

 

“Several of them seem to be under the impression that you and Mr. Pink are an item,” he added.

 

“Don’t know where they got that idea,” she told him.

 

“Probably from the fact that you two are always making eyes at each other.  And you have a tendency to discuss your next date without checking to see if there’s anyone else around to overhear,” her father informed her.

 

“Alright, so what if I am dating him? It’s not like I was hiding the fact that I was dating someone from any of you,” she argued.

 

“Oi, no need to get angry, Princess.  I can’t help but be curious about who your boyfriend is when you haven’t brought him ‘round or anything,” he responded, raising his hands defensively.

 

“Oh? And how exactly am I supposed to introduce him to my family?  When my parents look the same bloody age as I do?  Add to that, why are my parents blonde and ginger, but I’m a brunette,” Clara ranted in frustration.

 

“Well, your mother was black at one point,” James interjected.

 

“You see?! How am I supposed to bring him ‘round? What am I supposed to say?” Clara nearly shouted before looking around nervously to see if anyone heard them.

 

“Clara, sweetheart, you are part of a very unique family.  If it’s serious with this bloke, you’ll have to tell him sooner or later.  Do you really want to lie to him?  Can you build a relationship on that?” her father asked.

 

“No, I know.  It’s just not something that I can go telling everyone, yeah?  Give me some time,” she pleaded.

 

“He’s very handsome.  You could do a lot worse,” he told her.

 

“Granddad doesn’t like him.  And he doesn’t even know yet,” she grumbled.

 

“Don’t worry about him.  It’s me he’s got to get through,” James assured her and gave her a quick hug before heading back to the storage room where they’d parked the Doctor’s TARDIS.

 

###################

 

Rose shook her head as she looked at the small chalkboard sign that her husband had placed on the door to the room where they’d parked the TARDIS. In block letters, it read, “Go Away Humans.”  She wiped it clean with her sleeve and wrote “Do Not Disturb” instead.

 

As she was replacing it, one of the students she recognized as Courtney came by.  The girl had spent half the day in the office, in trouble for various things.  She reminded her a lot of herself at that age, or River from the stories that Amy told.

 

“What’re you doing here, Ms. Prentice?” the young lady asked Rose.

 

“Oh, just needed to talk to Mr. Smith about something,” she replied quickly.

 

“There's been a spillage in Geography, I need some paper towels,” Courtney explained.

 

“I’ll grab some for you,” Rose told her as the two of them went through the door.  “Here you are.”

 

The Doctor heard voices and stormed out of the time ship, only spotting Courtney. “Can't you read?” he shouted.

 

“Course I can read. Read what?” she answered.

 

“The door. It says, Keep Out,” he told her.

 

“No, it says, Do Not Disturb,” Courtney argued.

 

“Well, you’re disturbing me!”

 

“It did say something else, but I corrected it for you,” Rose interjected. 

 

“Yes, well. Never lose your temper in the middle of a door sign,” he responded, ushering the girl out of the room.

 

“What was you doing in there? What's that box?” she wondered.

 

“The caretaker's box. Every caretaker has their own box.”

 

“It says Police,” she countered logically.

 

“Exactly, there's a policeman in there, in case of emergencies and children. You’ve got your towels, there, g-g-go.”

 

The girl tried to keep talking to him, but he had already turned back to greet his wife now that they were alone.  Rose smirked at him as he strolled over and dipped her backwards, giving her a scorching kiss.  They were distracted by a sudden groan from Clara, who had just entered the room as well.

 

“Really didn’t need to see that, you two,” she grumbled.

 

“Well then, knock first.  It’s like Grand Central Station in here,” the Doctor argued.

 

“Anything show up on the scans yet, love?” Rose asked, getting to the reason for her visit.

 

“I barely had a chance to look at them.  Let’s go see,” he replied, taking her hand as he walked back into the TARDIS.

 

“Scanning for what?” Clara questioned, hoping to get a little more information than they’d provided so far.

 

“Any alien technology in this vicinity should show up,” he told her.  The monitor suddenly displayed a four legged robot with significant fire power.

 

“Oh my god, granddad! Is that what I think it is?” Clara gasped.

 

“A Skovox Blitzer. One of the deadliest killing machines ever created. Probably homed in here because of artron emissions. There’s been enough of them in this area over the years. There's enough explosive in its armoury to take out the whole planet,” he explained.

 

“How do we stop it, love?” Rose asked him.

 

“Sooner or later it will creep from its hidey-hole and some military idiot will try to attack it.  The world is full of PE teachers.”

 

Rose glanced over to Clara with a knowing look.  Clearly she knew which of the teachers had caught Clara’s eye, even if the Doctor didn’t.

 

“Is it my fault?  Me working here, I mean?” Clara questioned worriedly.

 

“What? No, of course not.  I often end up in London in general and spent a very long time here with Susan at one point.  It could just as easily have ended up in Cardiff with the rest of the family,” he assured her.

 

**“** So, your insanely dangerous plan is?” she asked him, accepting that what brought it here couldn’t be helped now and they just had to get rid of it.

 

The Doctor held up what looked like a wristwatch, but Clara knew that there was more to it than that.  She took it from his hand as he held it in front of her, eager to see if she could figure out what it was.

 

“Not a watch.  That’s not the time, that’s a frequency modulator.  Doubt it’s a shield generator.  Ok, I give, what’s it for?” she wondered, handing it back to him.

 

“Just watch!” he exclaimed as he put it on and pressed the button on the side.  In a flash, he vanished from sight.

 

“Granddad? Oi! Ah! Haha, don’t tickle me! You're invisible. Ha, ha! Oh, my God, that's incredible,” she exclaimed.

 

“Correct. I am invisible and I am incredible. And rather impressive, yes?” he added, reappearing and turning to kiss Rose once again. “It's simply a matter of reversing light waves.”

 

“Mmmm, very impressive,” Rose hummed happily.

 

“Right, knock it off until I’m gone, yeah?” Clara grumbled. “What’s the rest of the plan?”

 

“So, I give the Blitzer a tiny whiff of non-threatening alien tech, I lead it back here, but I don't want it to scan me, hence invisible.”

 

“So you're, you're leading the thing here? To a school? My, my school?”

 

“It’s already in the area, sweetheart,” Rose interjected.

 

“This is the only suitably empty place in the area. I've set up a circle of time mines around the school. Chronodyne generators. Bit unstable,” the Doctor explained. “I switch them on, the Blitzer gets sucked into a big old time vortex, billions of years into the future. It's dead easy. Tiny bit boring. I'll need a book and a sandwich.”

 

“I'm sure we can find something to do, love,” Rose teased.

 

Clara groaned and James commented as he entered the TARDIS, “Really, we don't need to see that. Couldn't you guys save it for when you're alone?”

 

“If you don't like it, you can all go away,” the Doctor grumbled, making Rose giggle.

 

“Thought you wanted our help with this one?” he argued.

 

“I don't need you this time. Turns out this should be pretty simple. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll go somewhere nice. Ancient Egypt. Crocodilopolis. They worship a big crocodile there, so the name is a useful coincidence.”

 

“Sorry, dad, we’re hanging a around. Gives us a chance to check out Clara's boyfriend since she isn't ready to properly introduce him to the family yet,” James told him.

 

Clara rolled her eyes and sat heavily on the jumpseat.  James and Rose were smiling at her, but the Doctor was a bit confused.  

 

“Your new boyfriend is here?” he questioned.

 

“Yes, Doctor, and you've met him,” Rose informed him.

 

“I knew dad knew who he was, but I didn't know you did, gran. And you, you like him?” she asked worriedly.

 

“Yes, sweetheart. He is very handsome and great with the kids around here. Now, you go and have a nice night. We’ll take care of all of this,” Rose assured her.

 

“Oh alright. See you tomorrow,” Clara agreed and headed for the door.

 

“Shall we go check on our little trap, then?” James suggested. 

 

“I meant it when I said we could handle this,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Yeah, but I'm here anyway. Might as well see it through.”

 

“I've only got two of these though. I don't want that thing detecting any of us. It is rather dangerous,” he argued.

 

“Don't worry about it, love, you boys go play and I'll monitor the sensors from here,” Rose said, knowing that they didn't often get to solve things together anymore. “Where's River?”

 

“She took our TARDIS to visit her parents and little brother for a bit.  She’ll be back later tonight,” James told her, taking the invisibility watch that his father tossed to him.

 

“Well then, it looks like it’s time for a father/son hunting trip,” the Doctor announced with a grin.


	9. Caretaker - part 2

Clara was just leaving the school when she ran into Danny in the playground.

 

“Miss Tyler,” he greeted her with a smile and moved to walk beside her towards her car.

 

“Ah, Mister, Mister Pink,” she stuttered, startled out of her thoughts about the threat that was lurking nearby.

 

“Are you still on for tonight? ‘Cause you had your I'm about to cancel frown on,” he wondered.

 

“There's a specific frown?” she asked.

 

“And I was going to say, it's okay, I might have a thing, so,” he told her.

 

“A thing?”

 

“Er, tomorrow instead?” he suggested, noting her disappointed look.

 

“Tomorrow's parents' evening,” she argued.

 

“Not all evening.”

 

“No. Not all evening,” she agreed.  She had been looking forward to a trip in her grandparents’ TARDIS once they’d finished up around the school, but it was a time machine after all.  They could make sure to be back in time for a date with Danny.

 

The Doctor walked out into the school yard to check on the devices that he had hidden and Danny commented, “What do you think of him?”

 

“Er, who? The caretaker?”

 

“Where did he come from? What was he before? He doesn't seem like a caretaker,” Danny pointed out.

 

“You’re very curious.  Just seems like an eccentric old guy to me,” she deflected.

 

“Anyway. Goodnight, Miss Tyler.”

 

“Goodnight, Mister Pink.”

 

Since it seemed that she wouldn’t be spending time with her boyfriend tonight, Clara decided to head back to the TARDIS and see if she could help.

 

######################

 

The Doctor and James checked to make sure that all of the chronodyne generators were functioning properly before tracking alien tech signals to a nearby abandoned building.

 

“Seems like the right place,” James whispered.

 

“Home, sweet home,” the Doctor answered.  “Once we find it, we go invisible and lure it with setting 781 back to the school.”

 

“Looks like we’re heading upstairs.”

 

The two Time Lords crept up the rickety staircase quietly, following the signals on their sonic screwdrivers.  It was quite dark, but their superior eyesight allowed them to see clearly anyway.  They made their way into one of the large rooms which was scattered with old junk and random boxes.  As they approached the Skovox Blitzer, its lights activated and it began scanning the room for the intruders.

 

“Gotcha! Let’s dance!” the Doctor exclaimed excitedly and both men activated their invisibility shields before leading the robot back toward the school.

 

Whenever it would get too close to one of them, the other would lure it in a slightly different direction along the way.

 

################

 

“Canoodling cancelled, if you need a hand, granddad?” Clara called as she entered the TARDIS.

 

“The boys have gone off hunting robots already, I’m afraid.  Just us girls, but hang on, something’s wrong with those chronodyne generators,” Rose told her as she double checked the monitor.  “We’d better go check it out or their trap isn’t going to work properly.”

 

“What about the Blitzer though? We aren’t invisible,” Clara argued.

 

“We’ll just have to be careful.  I can’t reset them from here,” she insisted, heading out into the school. 

 

_ “Something’s wrong with some of your time thingys, love.  Clara and I are going to see if we can reset them before you get back here with that thing,”  _ Rose told the Doctor telepathically.

 

_ “We’re already coming back with it now!” _

 

“Shit,” Rose cursed and started running.  “They’ve already found it and are on their way back.”

 

“Which ones were tripped?” Clara asked, keeping up with her gran easily.

 

“I’ll get the one in the North hallway, you head to the stage, he cleared an area in there to corner it,” Rose answered and veered off down the next corridor.

 

#######################

 

James made it to the room they had prepared before his father and skidded to a stop in the middle of the circle of chairs where the devices were waiting.  His eyes widened at the sight of the red lights flashing around him. He deactivated his invisibility watch and got to work.

 

“Red? Oh god, no.  You’re supposed to be green! Come on,” he rambled as he frantically tried to reset each of them before the Blitzer got there.

 

“Gangway! Not far now. Come on,” the Doctor called from just outside the door.

 

“No, no, no, no, no,” James mumbled to himself.

 

“Faster!” the Doctor shouted, trying to help his son get the chronodyne generators working again.

 

“Range one point four nine scan complete problem problem,” the Blitzer reported as it entered the room and scanned the two Time Lords.

 

“Listen. We’re unarmed. We’re peaceful. Don't you understand? I, I know that you shouldn't be on this planet but I can help you with that. I-” the Doctor tried reasoning with it.

 

“Problem solution destroy,” it responded.

 

The Skovox Blitzer paused at the sound of another voice behind it.  Danny Pink approached, carrying one of the chronodyne generators and demanded, “I want a word with you.”

 

“Get down!” Rose shouted as she grabbed the device from Danny’s hands and tossed it to the Doctor.

 

Everyone but the Doctor dove to the floor.  As soon as the last device landed in the middle of the others, all of the lights switched to green and the trap was reset.  The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to activate it and a time vortex was created to suck the robot away from them.

 

“Temporal disrupt. Warning warning. Temporal failure. Warning system failure. Abort. Abort,” the robot protested as it was pulled into the vortex, firing its lasers haphazardly around the room.

 

Rose kept a hold of Danny nearby so that he wouldn’t get sucked in as well.

 

“Oh, oh, well done, PE, brilliant work. What's this? A chronodyne generator? I'll just deactivate that, shall I? I've got a swimming certificate so that qualifies me to meddle with higher technology. Never mind that some people are actually trying to save the planet. Oh, no. There's only room in my head for cross-country and the offside rule,” the Doctor taunted Danny sarcastically.

 

“Danny, what are you doing here?” Clara gasped as she dashed into the room.

 

“I was checking up on him. He's been up to something, fiddling with the electric, but what the? No. What? Did you see that thing? Tell me you saw that thing,” Danny explained.

 

“I saw the thing, yeah. Doctor, are we safe? Is the planet safe? It's gone?” Clara asked.

 

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, for the moment. But the thing is, you know how precisely the chronodyne generators have to be aligned to generate the vortex. But the sergeant here, he went and moved one,” the Doctor told her.

 

“So it didn’t go as far as you planned, yeah? The chronodyne field was smaller, so the time interval will be smaller. When is it coming back then?” Clara asked.

 

James was scanning the room with his sonic as they were arguing and already had the answer for them. “About three days from now. And it’s already scanned us, so we’ll be the primary targets when it gets here,” he reported.

 

“Clara, why are you talking to him like that? Why are you using words like chronodyne? Was that thing a space thing? Oh. Oh, my God, you're from space. You're a spacewoman. You said you were from Cardiff,” Danny questioned nervously.

 

“It's a play! For the summer fete,” Clara lamely tried to create an excuse.

 

“It's a what?” the Doctor asked incredulously.

 

“Clara,” James sighed.

 

“Yes, it's a play. Shut up, it is a play. We are rehearsing a play. Shh, shh, shh, shh. A surprise play. And, er, you see, the vortex thing is, is a lighting effect. Very clever. And that thing is, is one of the kids. In fancy dress. Really, really good fancy dress,” she continued.

 

“How stupid do you think I am?” Danny asked.

 

“I'm willing to put a number on it,” the Doctor mumbled, earning an elbow in the side from Rose, who had moved beside him.

 

“I'm not a moron, Clara. And he's not the caretaker. He's your dad. Your space dad,” Danny accused.

 

“Oh, genius. That is, that is really, really brilliant reasoning. How can you think that I'm her dad when we both look exactly the same age?” the Doctor argued.

 

“We do not look the same age,” Clara growled.

 

“We do! People say it all the time,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“That was the last you, love.  They haven’t said that since you regenerated,” Rose informed him.  

 

He seemed about to argue, but James interrupted them, “I’m her space dad, thank you very much.  And I told you that you should have explained this before, sweetheart.”

 

“And why would she explain it to him of all people?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“Because he is her boyfriend, Doctor! And all of this was bound to come up sooner or later if they stayed together.  So you can stop behaving like a grade A pillock and be nice for a change,” Rose demanded angrily.

 

“But he's a PE teacher. You wouldn't go out with a PE teacher. It's a mistake. You've made a boyfriend error,” the Doctor argued.

 

“I am not a PE teacher. I am a maths teacher,” Danny protested.

 

“You're a soldier. Why would you go out with a soldier? Why not get a dog or a big plant?”

 

“Because I love him!” Clara shouted.

 

“Dad! Stop. You and mum can go back to the TARDIS and work out a plan for what we’re going to do when the Blitzer is back.  I’ll stay and help Clara explain, yeah?” James insisted.

 

The Doctor continued to argue as Rose led him away, but they left him in her capable hands for the moment.

 

“Clara, are you going to explain any of this? Who is this guy?” Danny asked with a nod towards James.

 

“This is James Tyler.  My dad,” she admitted.

 

“Ok.  So why does he look the same age as you?  Why does he look nothing like you?” he questioned logically.

 

“Because he's an alien.”

 

“Er, are you an alien?”

 

“Well, that’s probably more complicated than you would think,” she began.

 

“Clara,” James sighed in exasperation. 

 

“Yes. I’m technically part human, but my alien genetics are dominant, so yeah, I’m an alien.  The Doctor is my granddad and he’s from another planet. My family travels through time and space,” Clara admitted finally.

 

As if on cue, River arrived in the room with their TARDIS.  Clara turned to glare at her father for a moment accusingly.

 

“I may have just contacted your mother for a proper introduction,” James admitted with a smirk.

 

Clara rolled her eyes and took Danny’s hand before the door opened in the side of the little coral tree that had materialized in the room.  River appeared in the doorway to welcome them inside.

 

“But, she’s the history teacher,” Danny protested.

 

“She’s also my mum and Rose that was here earlier is my grandmother,” Clara explained.

 

“Welcome to our TARDIS,” River greeted him.

 

“TARDIS stands for Time And Dimension In Space,” Clara told him as she led her boyfriend through the door into the ship.  “It’s bigger on the inside, it travels through time and space, and it’s our home.”

 

“And what about that thing? Did you bring that here?” he questioned worriedly.

 

“Of course not!” Clara gasped.

 

“We discovered that it was here and were trying to get rid of it before anyone got hurt,” James explained.

 

“You said it was coming back.”

 

“Yes.  Due to the little mix up with the chronodyne generators, what should have thrown it a billion years into the future, only sent it three days from now,” James replied.

 

“And just how did that happen?” River asked.

 

“Danny saw the devices around the school and got suspicious of granddad.  He turned a couple of them off and moved one as well, it messed up the trap,” Clara told her mother.

 

“This is a school. We have to evacuate, call the Army,” Danny argued.

 

“Danny, trust us, please.  This is the type of thing that we deal with everyday.  If we didn’t think that we could handle it, we have friends in very capable and knowledgeable organizations like UNIT and Torchwood to help, but we don’t need them for this.  This is just one little robot, not another invasion of Cybermen,” River assured him.

 

“Cybermen?” Danny asked, suddenly looking like he might faint.

 

“Why don’t we all head to the kitchen for a cup of tea and we can explain everything.  It’s about time you brought a boy home to be honest.  Already on your second incarnation and all,” James suggested and they all headed toward the kitchen, leading a slightly dazed Danny along with them.

 

##########################

 

“What do you think? Say something,” Clara asked after her parents had left them alone for a bit.

 

“You’re an alien and you never told me. You leave for days or weeks at a time, but I never know because it’s a time machine. Were you ever going to tell me?”

 

“Of course I was!” Clara insisted.

 

“Don’t say, of course.  There is no ‘of course’ when you kept lying even after I found out.  All that nonsense about a play,” he argued.

 

“I really was going to tell you.  There just never seemed like a good time,” she told him.

 

“Really had enough of the lies.”

 

“I’m sorry.  I really am.  I broke your trust and I have to earn it back again. Please, tell me how I fix this,” she begged.

 

“I just want to know who you are,” he replied honestly.

 

“You know who I am.”

 

“No, because the girl I know is a human from Cardiff, with a flat, and a job. She isn’t a time travelling alien.  I want to know you,” he insisted.

 

“Alright.  You have the basic story about my family from my parents.  What would you like from me? Photos and videos from my childhood? A trip somewhere amazing? What can I do, Danny?” 

 

“I said I want to know you, not some fantastical place.  Let’s start with the home movies,” he agreed and they headed off to the library, hand in hand.

 

##############################

 

“But, Rose-” the Doctor whined as she dragged him back to the TARDIS.

 

“No, Doctor.  It’s her life. You need to trust her to make her own decisions,” she insisted.

 

“But he’s a soldier! How are you possibly alright with that?” he argued.

 

“Doctor, stop.  You’ve made a snap judgment about him without all the facts.  Yes, he served in the military and he is proud of the discipline that he learned there.  But Doctor, if you saw the way he reacts when the kids ask him about actually fighting, you’d realize that he isn’t what you think he is.  He is traumatized by it, practically bursts into tears just thinking about it.  What were you like after the war? Loved you anyway, didn’t I?” Rose told him.  

 

She had been watching him covertly for days now and had seen the way he behaved with the students.  He was fair and disciplined, and very clearly haunted by his past.  Rose recognized that look instantly.

 

“Also, you need to stop insulting his intelligence.  You know damn well that he teaches maths and not PE, so stop insinuating that he is all muscle and no brains.  He may not be a genius alien, but he’s earned the right to teach and that means something,” she added.

 

“Fine. I’ll try.  He still ruined our trap and we need to find a new way to stop the Skovox Blizter when it comes back,” he agreed reluctantly.

 

“Then let’s get to work, love.  We can’t have that stupid thing vaporizing our granddaughter’s workplace.”


	10. Caretaker - part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the end of this story arc. Hope you like it. A bit of warning, the NEXT chapter will be seriously NSFW. It really doesn't have a bearing on the storyline, so you can skip it if you want.

The Doctor was currently waiting for the computer to finish its simulation before he could complete the device that would stop the Blitzer from destroying the school when it came back.  In the meantime, he currently had Rose pinned to the jump seat while he darkened the love bite he’d created on her neck.  They were both startled by the alert that sounded from the console.

 

 **“** No, no, no. No! No, no, no, no, no!” the Doctor shouted, quickly collecting the various pieces that he needed to complete the device and ran for the door.

 

 _“Jamie, we have a problem.  It’s coming back now,”_ Rose informed her son telepathically.

 

 _“But it’s parents’ night! The school is full of people,”_ he replied in horror.

 

 _“Yeah well, I don’t think the Skovox Blitzer cares much about making a scene, sweetheart. Your dad’s almost finished his contraption, see if you can help and I’ll go try and divert people away,”_ Rose told him.

 

###############################

 

“I would say yes, I'm afraid Courtney is a disruptive influence,” Danny informed her parents.

 

“Yeah, but last year you said she was a very disruptive influence,” Mr. Woods responded.

 

“So, I suppose that counts as an improvement,” Mrs. Woods agreed.

 

Danny looked up to see Rose at the door to the gymnasium.  She was trying to get the attention of River and Clara, but seemed to be having trouble.  He pointedly cleared his throat to alert them and nodded in her direction.

 

“Excuse me, I think I’m needed in the hall for a moment,” Danny told the parents in front of him.

 

“Sorry, Mrs. Christodolou, I think er, I think I might be needed as well,” Clara excused herself.

 

“But what about my Angelina?” the mother protested.

 

“Yeah, she's great, yeah, a really great girl,  A plus, ten out of ten, top of the class. Sorry. Although, actually, handwriting could be better,” Clara called back as she headed over to see what her grandmother needed.

 

River barely said a word as she got up to follow them out of the room, leaving another set of parents rather upset.

 

“I'm sure they'll be back in a moment,” the principal told them all, not sure why three teachers had suddenly left.

 

############################

 

“What's happening?” Clara asked, knowing that it had to be important.

 

“The vortex is opening. Pretty much now-ish,” Rose replied.

 

“You said Thursday night. Right, hall, quick,” Danny insisted.

 

“Nope.  The Doctor and Jamie are going to deal with it directly. If it gets to parents' evening, it'll kill them all,” Rose told them.

 

“We've got to evacuate,” Danny argued.

 

“No.  I don’t want to draw any more attention than necessary and we don’t want people running around the school because they need to collect this or that from wherever the way people do when you tell them that they need to leave,” Rose countered.

 

“What do you need us to do, gran?” Clara asked.

 

“You and Danny need to keep people either in this room or straight out the closest door and away from here.  No one is to go wandering through the school.  River and I will try to set up some barricades or something, monitor the halls to make sure we don’t have anyone wandering.  We’ll leave the really dangerous part to the Doctor and Jamie.  They have a plan and can communicate telepathically the way the three of you can’t with the Doctor,” Rose explained.

 

“And if it gets loose?” Clara questioned, knowing that there was always a chance that things wouldn’t go as planned.

 

“Get as many people out of here as you can and run to one of the TARDISes,” Rose told her firmly.

 

#########################

 

“Alright, dad, what’s the plan?” James asked when he met him in the auditorium.

 

“It’ll be here any second.  I want you to lure it away from here with helicon energy.  Give me two minutes.”

 

“Then bring it back?” he asked.

 

“Just run straight to the TARDIS,” he replied.

 

“Yeah, not likely dad."

 

"We don’t have time to argue about this, go,” the Doctor shouted, fidgeting with the device he was working on.

 

James held up his hands defensively and put his sonic on the right setting to lure the robot on a little chase around the empty hallways for a bit.  He certainly wasn’t going to run and hide afterward, no matter how dangerous his dad thought this was.  Things often went wrong and he would need help.

 

It was simple enough getting the thing to follow him once it had reappeared from the temporal disturbance.  James had learned the halls of the school quite well in the days that they’d been there undercover, so he had no trouble keeping it as far from the parents and teachers as possible.  When two minutes had almost passed, he headed back towards his father, bringing the Blitzer with him.  He gasped when he saw River at the end of the hallway and telepathically urged her away from there.  She nodded and started running, but at the corner between them, the robot stopped and almost turned to follow the new target.

 

“Oi! Circuit brain! This way!” James shouted, zapping his sonic in the Blitzer’s direction again.  He hoped that it would see his technology as a bigger threat than his retreating wife.

 

“Target acquired. Destroy,” it stated before resuming its chase.

 

“Now, dad!” James shouted as he skidded into the room.

 

“Am I green? Am I green?” the Doctor asked frantically once Rose had helped him into the backpack he had constructed.

 

“You're green!” she assured him.

 

Speaking into the microphone, his voice changed to mimic that of one of its superiors. “Stop! Skovox Blitzer!”

 

The robot immediately halted. “Awaiting orders.”

 

“Superior Skovox Artificer. Analyse stop analyse stop.”

 

“Superior recognised. Pattern one one oh, Orders orders,” it demanded.

 

“Why's it listening to you?” James wondered.

 

“Listening to its superior. This is a rough copy. It thinks I'm its general,” he said, away from the microphone, but resumed speaking into it as he gave the robot some commands. “Initiate input. Commence shutdown protocol. No conflict. Conclusion?”

 

“Problem solution.”

 

“Conclusion,” the Doctor repeated.

 

“Final input code missing. Emergency terminate. Initiate self-destruct in nine eight,” the Blitzer announced, its eyes turning from blue lights to red.

 

“The input code. I forgot the final input code,” the Doctor mumbled, stabbing at the computer on his device to figure out what he needed to tell the thing.

 

“Anytime now, dad!” James called worriedly.

 

“I need time. Distract it, James!”

 

“What do you want me to do? Wave a magic wand?” James asked incredulously.

 

As the robot’s countdown nearly reached one, it was suddenly distracted by a new target.

 

“Oi, Skovox. Over here!” Danny called, leaping over its head aggressively.

 

“Under attack,” it announced, turning to aim its blasters at Danny.

 

“Artificer Artificer. Stop. Confirm stop override final input code,” the Doctor finally interjected.

 

“Code accepted. Abort self-destruct. Orders accepted  Stop stop stop,” it told them before shutting down completely.

 

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God, you were amazing! Oh, my God, you were so brilliant,” Clara rambled, running into the room.

 

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Rose demanded.  “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from here and keep the parents out?”

 

“Oh come on, Rose, following instructions?” River questioned.

 

Rose rolled her eyes, acknowledging that staying put and not wandering off were pretty much never happening with anyone who travelled with the Doctor, so she couldn’t expect much more from Clara’s choice in boyfriend.

 

“Well, yeah, I was okay, wasn't I? I was behind you every step of the way. Had to make sure you were safe,” Danny told Clara as she ran to check him over for any injuries.

 

“That was brilliant, Danny.  Thank you,” Rose told him. Danny and Clara looked worriedly at the Doctor, who was quietly fiddling with his device and avoiding any interactions with the others. “And don’t worry about him. He’ll come around.”

 

“It's all right, it doesn't matter. I don't need him to like me. It doesn't matter if he likes me or hates me, I just need to do exactly one thing for him,” Danny told them.

 

“What? What one thing?” Clara wondered, hoping that she could get her grandfather to approve of him.

 

“I need to be good enough for you. That's why he's angry. Just in case I'm not.”

 

“You did just save the whole world,” Clara assured him.

 

“Yes you did,” Rose agreed.  “And he only acts like that because he cares, Clara.  Wouldn’t let himself be with me for a long time because he figured he wasn’t good enough for me.  Like I said, he’ll come around.”

 

The family brought Danny with them to toss the Skovox Blitzer out into open space.  He had been reluctant to go on the trip away from Earth, but realized that if he wanted to stay with Clara, he would have to accept that she was an alien and would often travel in space.  He and Clara sat in the open doors of the time ship for a while, her head resting on his shoulder as they looked out at the nebula nearby.

 

Rose brought the Doctor to the library to talk, River and James following whether they were wanted or not.  The discussion was bound to be about their daughter and they felt they had a right to be involved.

 

“You can’t keep doing this, Doctor,” Rose told him firmly.

 

“Doing what?” he sighed, flopping down into his usual chair.

 

“Treating Danny like some stupid ape that stole all your bananas,” she countered.

 

The Doctor scoffed at that.  He hadn’t called anyone a stupid ape since he had worn black leather and jeans.

 

“Don’t,” Rose warned when he looked like he thought she was being ridiculous. “Or you’ll be sleeping in here.”

 

“Look, dad,” James interrupted before his parents’ fighting got any worse. “Danny’s not a bad kid. And Clara can make her own decisions.”

 

“I know he isn’t the companion that you would choose to bring with you, but Clara doesn’t have to travel with us.  If you don’t want to lose her coming with us, then you’ll have to learn to accept that he is part of the package, yeah?” Rose reasoned with him.

 

“For a couple of decades anyway,” he grumbled.

 

“Stop it,” Rose snapped. “It’s bad enough that our time with her through her childhood was as mixed up as it was.  Yes, we saw her and she saw us, but it wasn’t the way it should have been.  And she was stuck earthbound for far too long.  I don’t want to lose her now.  Her TARDIS is almost grown and she might just take it and run off, never even talk to us again.”

 

“Alright, alright,” the Doctor finally sighed, pulling Rose down into his arms before she started to cry. “I’m sorry.  You’re right.  Clara is brilliant and she is entitled to make her own decisions,” he said, looking at James and River.

 

“Quite right,” River agreed before leading James out of the library and back to their room for the night.


	11. Experimenting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned in the notes of the previous chapter, this is complete smut. It will not affect the story at all if you want to skip it. I just really wanted to write something like this, so I hope you like it. I debated for a bit whether to post it or not, but my beta insisted.

They were alone on the TARDIS again.  Jamie and River had taken Clara on a little family vacation after their undercover adventures at Coal Hill School.  The new home for the Time Lords on Trenzalore was being carefully transformed with planetary shielding and advanced technology.  Their family on Earth, at Torchwood was keeping a close eye on any unusual activity and would call them if needed.  This left the Doctor and Rose free to take a little vacation of their own.

 

“Look, Doctor, I know we tried something like this with your last body and it just didn’t work for us, but I think your new personality might like it,” Rose purred in his ear.

 

“I really don’t think-” he began.

 

“Not the way we did before.  Switch it around.  This you loves control and I think I could learn to enjoy a little… restraint,” she told him with a smirk.

 

“Are you sure? With what happened with Jimmy, I don’t want to trigger any bad memories,” he insisted.

 

“I’m sure, Doctor.  I trust you, I love you, and it wasn’t like that.  I know that I’m safe with you, that you won’t do anything that isn’t about our mutual pleasure, and that you’ll stop if I need you to,” Rose assured him.

 

“Let’s go then.  The room is still here. Did you want to change your clothing at all?” he wondered, looking over his gorgeous wife.

 

Rose considered her various options in lingerie on board and decided that it might be best to just go au naturel for this time around.  “Nah, I think you ought to see all of my skin and the lovely shade of pink it can turn at your touch,” she teased, sticking her tongue in the side of her mouth seductively.

 

“Keep that up and I’ll have to punish you,” he growled, deciding that maybe he would like this kind of play this time around.  

 

They had tried with Rose doing the dominatrix thing a century or so ago, his last incarnation seemingly perfect for the submissive role with her.  But they had both decided that it wasn’t their style and had gone back to their usual sex life fairly quickly.  She was right though, that this incarnation seemed to crave control, and if she wanted to take the submissive role this time, he might just be up for dominating her.  He was honest in his concern about her history with an abusive relationship, even if it was centuries ago.  But he knew that this wouldn’t be the same type of experience, so he would just keep watch on her emotions telepathically while they played this little game.

 

“I believe, Doctor, that is the point,” she replied innocently.

 

They entered the room they’d created for just this sort of thing.  The lights were dim, there was a large bed in the middle of the room, with handcuffs at each corner, and there were a few other places where they’d put restraints for different positions.  They had purchased a few paddles and floggers, vibrators and dildos.  Rose began to remove her clothes, but the Doctor stopped her with a firm grasp on her arm.

 

“I didn’t tell you to do that,” he chastised.

 

“Sorry,” she squeaked, surprised at his sudden acceptance of the role.

 

“You will only do what I say and you will only answer with, ‘yes, Doctor’ or ‘no, Doctor.’ Is that clear?” he instructed, setting the parameters for their game.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she replied instantly.

 

He strolled over to sit on the sofa they’d set up in here and directed her to stand in front of him.  Rose knew that it would be difficult for her to stick with yes and no as her only options and figured she was probably in for some punishments when she slipped up, but that was all part of the play.

 

“Remove everything except your knickers,” he instructed, watching her closely.

 

Rose kept her eyes locked on his as she slowly removed her clothes.  It wasn’t quite a strip tease, but she could feel his arousal building as he watched her reveal herself to him.  Once she was down to just her panties, the Doctor stood up and walked around her slowly, stroking his lower lip with his thumb as he considered his options.

 

“Stand at the bar,” he told her.

 

There were ankle restraints, which he fastened immediately.  He then adjusted the height of the padded bar to sit at the pivot point of her hips and locked it in place.  She knew that the next part was to have her lean forward and tie her wrists, presenting her backside, but he stood directly in front of her and massaged her breasts.  She moaned happily.

 

“Hush!” he told her, suddenly pinching her nipples painfully.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she whispered, trying to calm herself enough to follow his instructions and not get lost in the feelings so soon.

 

He walked over to the drawers nearby and returned with a pair of nipple clamps.  Needing to make sure that she was ready for them, he leaned down to suck harshly on her right breast.  Rose struggled to keep herself quiet, her breathing becoming ragged at his rough ministrations.  She sucked in a breath as his mouth was replaced by the pinch of one of the clamps, and he moved to suck on the left one, preparing it in the same way.  Once they were both attached, the small weighted chain between them pulling just a bit, he pulled her wrists forward to restrain her completely.  They were both enjoying this immensely, they could feel it through their marriage bond, and mutually decided that they should do this more often.  Not all the time, but occasionally.

 

“As you mentioned earlier, I really do need to see just how pink I can turn that lovely skin of yours, don’t you agree?” he said as he moved behind her.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she answered breathily.

 

“Then we’d best be rid of these,” he responded, ripping her panties roughly and tossing them on the floor where she could see them.

 

Rose hadn’t noticed him grabbing one of the floggers earlier, so was surprised when she felt it suddenly strike the back of her thighs.  She instinctively tried to pull away from the source of pain, but she was secured too tightly to do more than writhe in place.  The strikes were not hard, but stung just enough that she knew her skin had to be reddening fairly quickly.  He never hit the same spot twice in a row, always giving her body a chance to keep up, increasing blood flow to those areas, but not breaking the skin at all.  Before long, Rose couldn’t help but moan as the sensations began to overwhelm her.

 

He dropped the flail on the floor and leaned over her back, his trousers roughly rubbing against her sensitive flesh. “I told you to stay quiet, Rose,” he scolded, reaching around to tug slightly on the chain between the nipple clamps.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she gasped.

 

“Do you know what that moaning does to me?” he asked, pressing his still clothed erection against her bum.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” Rose groaned.

 

“I think, I may need to teach your mouth a lesson to keep you quiet,” he rasped in her ear.

 

Rose thought she might have just gone to heaven with how this game was progressing.  He pulled over an adjustable stool and unfastened her wrists to that he could position himself with her face in his lap.  He had unfastened his trousers to release his erection, but kept them on as he took hold of her hair to position her head where he wanted her.  She happily opened wide and started to suck on him immediately.  Rose lost control of what she was doing to him however, when he held firmly to her head and maneuvered her back and forth harshly.  His cock struck the back of her throat, and she focused on simply keeping her mouth open wide for him and breathing through it when she could.  He stopped before he finished in her mouth, wanting to save that for the main event.

 

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” he asked, his own breathing getting heavy.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she assured him.

 

“Good.  The only words that I want to come from your mouth when I’m taking you are ‘Yes, Doctor.’ Got it?”

 

“Yes, Doctor.”

 

Moving back behind his wife, he slowly inserted two fingers into her dripping heat. She wriggled against him, trying to get a little more friction.

 

“You are mine,” he told her, rubbing slowly against the rough spot inside of her. He reached around to release the clamps and she hissed in a breath at the sudden change.

 

“Yes, Doctor,” she sighed.

 

At that, he couldn’t hold back any longer and replaced his fingers with his rock hard erection.  He grabbed hold of the bar in front of Rose’s hips and used it as leverage to pound into her harshly.  They were both lost to the sensations, him simply repeating, “Mine, mine, mine.” 

 

Rose whispered over and over again, “Yes, Doctor.” Though not entirely in answer to his rambling.

 

She shrieked and tensed as her orgasm overtook her, pulling him over the edge along with her.  He shouted loudly as he came inside of her, not worrying at all about anyone hearing them, even if there had been anyone else on the ship because they’d made sure that this room was completely soundproof upon creating it.

 

As soon as he could move again, the Doctor released all of Rose’s restraints and carried her limp form over to the bed nearby.  He removed his clothes before curling up next to her.  They hadn’t given up on the prospect of having another baby, but no amount of ‘practise’ had gotten them pregnant so far.  It was strange how easily Rose had conceived Jamie, the very first time they had coupled, but in all the time since they’d stopped her birth control, they hadn’t even had a miscarriage.  It made him wonder a bit about the changes that happened to her during that first pregnancy, but none of his scans over the centuries since had shown anything that would prevent it.

 

“What’s your mind buzzing about now?” Rose asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

 

“Just thinking,” he answered vaguely, but rubbed his hand over her belly, making it fairly clear what he was thinking about.

 

“I enjoyed that.  You?” Rose asked, changing the subject so that they wouldn’t get depressed about it.

 

He hummed his agreement and hugged her tightly against him.  “We should definitely do that again sometime,” he told her and they both snuggled down to take a nap.


	12. New Gallifrey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting... work has been keeping me busy, and the kids are home for the summer. This isn't part of the original series, but replaces some episodes that I don't like while facing the main issue that I wanted to deal with in this story.

Romana had called him back to Trenzalore.  All of his little family, in fact. So they docked Jamie's TARDIS inside of his and picked up Clara to visit the new Time Lord home world.  It hadn't been a very long time since they'd settled there, but a fair amount of progress had been made.  Romana had made a basic copy of the information from the matrix on Gallifrey. It didn't contain the actual consciousness of any Time Lords, but the knowledge and data that had been stored there was copied, so a new matrix had been set up.  They were almost ready to activate their new planetary defence shield, and a basic government was agreed upon by the original colonists and the newly arrived Gallifreyans.

 

The Doctor's TARDIS landed with its usual wheezing and final thump before the doors squeaked open.  The Doctor and Rose exited the ship first and smiled at the sight of a dozen or so little branches of coral growing in neat rows.  They were familiar with this sight as they had grown a TARDIS for Jamie already and had a second one on the way for Clara.

 

“Welcome back,” Braxiatel called to them as he approached.

 

“Brax,” the Doctor greeted his brother with a nod. “Do you know why we've been summoned here?”

 

“I do, but it would be best if the Council explained. This way,” he replied and didn't wait to see if they would follow before leading the way to the large building in the centre of town.

 

James, River, and Clara followed the Doctor and Rose as they grudgingly followed to what would no doubt be a boring debate of rules or something that they had no interest in.  

 

“Why are we even involved in all of this, dad?” James questioned. “We aren’t citizens here and except for you, none of us ever lived on Gallifrey either.”

 

“Throughout my lives, I have repeatedly been the one to rescue them all from disaster.  Most of them never left the planet and have very little experience with how the rest of the universe works.  Add to that, Romana trusts me and values my opinions,” the Doctor replied.

 

“He’s right though.  The rest of us are only here because of our relation to you.  But they insisted that all of us come today.  We aren’t citizens of their society.  What right do we have to make decisions about how they run it?” Rose questioned.

 

“Isn’t that what we do though?” Clara interjected and everyone turned to look at her.  “We go to planets that aren’t our own a lot of the time, and we decide who we think is the nicest person and make sure they win.  That’s what we always do.  This time we’re at least being invited to do it.”

 

River and James looked thoughtful as they considered her point, but the Doctor and Rose felt devastated.  They instantly grasped each other’s hand and their marriage bracelets clicked together as their thoughts swirled chaotically.  This was precisely what they had been grappling with for some time now.  Were they making the universe a better place in their travels or not?  Were they the helpful guardians that they thought they had been for so long, or were they merely forcing their opinions on the entire universe just because they thought they had that right?

 

“You’re right, Clara.  That’s exactly what we do.  And while we consider whether our usual methods are justified or not, let’s go see what it is that we were invited here for,” Rose acknowledged.

 

They made their way inside and were directed to speak with Romana in private before meeting with the newly appointed council.  Her office was sparsely decorated for the time being, but she had several chairs and a large sofa available for all of her visitors to sit while they waited for her.  It was only a few minutes later that she dashed into the room, robes fluttering behind her.

 

“Doctor! Thank goodness you’re here,” she exclaimed, rushing to grab his hand and pull him from the office.

 

“What in the world?” he grumbled as he allowed himself to be led wherever she was taking him.  He would rather deal with some kind of emergency than discuss politics after all.

 

The rest of his family ran to follow them, exchanging curious looks as they noticed everyone around them suddenly tense with worry.  There were people running through the hallways in what they thought seemed a rather un-Time-Lord-like manner.

 

“We have a problem,” Romana explained as they approached a large room at the end of the hall.  “The specialists that were setting up our new Matrix assured me that all safety protocols were in place before we brought it online, but something is terribly wrong.”

 

They entered the Matrix control room which was covered in various displays.  The matrix not only contained the database of all of their combined knowledge, but could follow various possible timelines to predict potential problems that might need addressing.  The Time Lords had always considered it their duty to preserve order in the web of time, and the Matrix helped them to monitor the entire universe.  At the moment, several of the displays were flashing mauve warning lights to indicate serious problems.  The Doctor and James instantly moved to the interface to see what was happening and what they could do about it.

 

“It looks like some kind of virus,” James told them.

 

“That’s not possible,” Romana protested.

 

“Oh, I wish everyone would stop insisting that things aren’t possible where the Matrix is concerned.  The damn thing is a universe all its own, where the normal rules don’t apply.  Anything is possible.  And there’s something in there that shouldn’t be,” the Doctor argued.  “The biggest problem with the Matrix is that the only way to affect anything is to actually go inside it.”

 

“How do you do that?” Rose questioned.

 

The Doctor turned to explain to his wife exactly what this entailed.  It was dangerous, and she would probably insist on going with him, but while she had been augmented by the Bad Wolf, the Matrix was designed to interface with Time Lord minds.

 

“We plug ourselves into the computer.  There’s a sort of virtual world inside.  The problem is, there is a very real danger when you are facing something malicious in the Matrix.  If your mind dies in there, you don’t just get kicked back out into the real world,” the Doctor warned.  

 

“Can’t you just shut the whole thing down and start over?” River suggested.

 

“We copied the entire database of Time Lord knowledge and history from Gallifrey to create it.  If we wipe it clear, any science and engineering knowledge that each of us doesn’t personally possess will be lost,” Romana protested.

 

“That might be one solution, but as a last resort.  I’m going in to try and find the problem,” the Doctor assured her.

 

“Then I’m going in with you,” Rose insisted.

 

“No.  I’m sorry, but it’s not meant to interface with human minds,” he argued.

 

“Then I’ll go with you, dad.  You’re going to need help with this.  It’s too agressive,” James said.

 

“Why can’t all of the Time Lords go in there and fight it together?” Clara asked them.

 

“We’ve only just set it up.  There’s only two access points right now,” Romana replied, wringing her hands worriedly. 

 

“But you said you had specialists setting this up, yeah? Why can’t they do this?” Rose wondered, knowing that her husband was probably the best for this task, but needing to be sure anyway.  Hadn’t they just been debating whether it was their place to take on every problem in the universe?

 

“Trust me, Rose, please,” her husband insisted, grasping her upper arms.  Their eyes met and she could see his determination to save the day again.  He was sure that it had to be him.

 

“Fine.  Don’t die.  Either of you,” she sighed reluctantly.

 

The Doctor kissed her quickly before turning to grab the coronets that were worn to interface with the Matrix.  He handed one to his son and they both sat down before placing them on their heads.  Their eyes closed as if they were meditating, but everyone knew there would be nothing relaxing about this adventure.

 

“Is this why you called us here, Romana?” Rose questioned while they waited.

 

“No.  We were hoping that you could help us with our new rules and guidelines regarding our involvement with the rest of the universe.  On Gallifrey, we were taught that our place was to observe and not interfere.  But eventually, the Celestial Intelligence Agency was established and they appointed themselves police over the timelines through all of time and space.  We named ourselves the only ones who could be trusted with interfering, which we had said we didn’t want to do.  Our superiority complex is what doomed us in the end.  We need the Doctor to help us avoid all of that happening again,” Romana explained.

 

Rose slumped into a nearby chair as she considered how to respond.  The Time Lords made a mess by not being involved at all, then by overruling everyone and she and her husband had been questioning whether forcing their own morality on those they encountered was the right thing as well.  While he was immersed in fixing their big computer thingy, she needed to contemplate how she felt about all of this so that they could discuss it before speaking with the new Time Lord Council.

 

Was there a right answer?  Like most things in the universe, it was likely not so black and white as that.  She only hoped that they could find the best path together.  Rose looked over at the Doctor and Jamie, confident that they would both be just fine to help her debate this very soon.  Though their lives were never so easy as that.


	13. Inside the Matrix

Chapter -- Inside the Matrix

 

The Doctor opened his eyes to find himself on Gallifrey.  There was a time when he would have loved to run through the fields and enjoy the scents and sounds of home, but all he could find now we're memories of war and bloodshed.

 

“Since I know we're inside a computer, I'm guessing this is all virtual. What planet is it depicting, dad?” Jamie asked, startling him from his melancholy thoughts.

 

“Gallifrey,” he croaked, then cleared his throat, as if he hadn't been affected by the sight.

 

“Oh. Sorry. You alright?” he asked, realizing why his father seemed upset. It was odd, not quite feeling his telepathic signature from the direction that he appeared to be, but from right next to him. They were sitting side by side in reality, and the difference was disconcerting.

 

“I'm always alright,” the Doctor replied, earning an eye roll from Jamie, but they didn't say anymore about it.

 

They looked around for any sign of the problem, but couldn't see anything, so the Doctor chose a direction and started walking towards the mountains in the distance.

 

“The whole place is a complex virtual reality, so it could appear to be anything really.  Hard to say what we're looking for in here, but I'm hoping it will be fairly obvious when we find it.”

 

“And when we do, just how to we correct it?” Jamie wondered.

 

“That will depend on what it is, I suppose.  You would think that after thousands of years, they'd find a way to write some sort of software to clean up this thing, but there always seems to be something wrong,” the Doctor grumbled as they walked.

 

“What's that?” Jamie asked, pointing to what appeared to be some kind of swarm of silver insects.  It was hovering near one of the silver leafed trees, but several others nearby seemed to have been nearly devoured.

 

“Those would appear to be our computer bugs,” he replied, considering their options.

 

At their approach, the swarm moved away from the tree and hovered as if debating what to do about the intruders.  The two time lords paused, hoping they weren't about to become the next thing on the menu.

 

“Have you got a plan yet? Do we run? Can you talk down a swarm of bugs?” Jamie asked nervously.

 

“I don't think we could outrun them if we tried, so I'm sincerely hoping that we can communicate with them somehow,” he told him as the mass of insects moved rapidly towards them.

 

The swarm surrounded them quickly, hovering in a circle, but never staying still. 

 

“Right, yes, hello. I'm the Doctor. That's Jamie. And you seem to be doing quite a lot of damage around here,” he called optimistically.

 

“It is our purpose. You are not part of the network to be destroyed. Leave now,” a unified, mechanical voice thundered from all around them.

 

“Your purpose? May I ask, what is the origin of your programming?” he questioned.

 

“We were created by the Time Lords to destroy the path web from within. This is where we are, we will destroy this network, then find another.”

 

“Path web? Isn't that what connects the Daleks to each other?” James asked.

 

“Yeah. This was created as a weapon to be used in the war. But they never set it loose. Looks like the AI got bored,” the Doctor reasoned. “Listen, this is not the path web. This is a new Time Lord Matrix construct. Would you mind not tearing it to shreds?”

 

“It is our purpose to destroy this network. Leave now,” the voice demanded and the swarm flew back to the group of trees it had been devouring.

 

“On to plan B. Do we have a plan B?” James questioned.

 

“I don’t think we can reason with it.  We’ll have to find some way to contain it and remove it.  Easier said than done of course because it isn’t really just a swarm of bugs, that’s just what it looks like right now,” the Doctor told him.

 

“So we need some kind of containment for it, then maybe we can find a way to lure it where we want? We can’t chase it.  This is all programming in here, yeah? Can we program something ourselves?” James suggested.

 

“Right.  Yes.  Like I said, it’s all virtual, so we just need to sort of mentally construct the programming that we want.  You work on a program that will reconstruct the matrix from the damage it’s inflicting and I’ll program something to contain and destroy it once it comes to stop the repairs,” the Doctor instructed and seemed to pull a computer interface out of thin air in front of him.

 

James nodded and mimicked what his father had done to gain access.  The programming was complicated, but he caught on quickly to what was originally there and what the bugs were doing to dismantle it.  Since his work was the bait as well as the fix, he made sure that what his program did was very obvious to the invading AI.

 

“Mine’s all set, dad.  Should I start it running or do you need more time?” James asked.

 

“Go ahead.  This’ll only take a tick,” he replied, still typing blindingly fast on the virtual keyboard in front of him.

 

James shrugged and pressed the button to begin his repair protocols.  Little repair drones appeared and began to spray a reddish liquid all over the virtual trees that had been destroyed, causing them to regrow back into their original forms before their eyes.  There was a bright sparkling effect as it happened, which James intended to catch the attention of the bugs and bring them back towards them.  As it happened, the AI noticed very quickly and was headed their way in less than a minute.

 

“Umm, dad,” James said, nudging the Doctor’s shoulder.

 

“Almost there,” he replied.

 

“They’re coming awfully fast,” he warned.

 

“Right,” he sighed and started typing even faster.

 

The swarm surrounded the tree that was currently being repaired, the drones, and the two Time Lords.  James edged closer to his father, nudging him worriedly as the bugs closed in on them.  

 

“Can they hurt us in here, dad?” 

 

“Yes.”

 

“Right, so any revisions to the plan given that we’re surrounded?” James asked.

 

“Yeah, send your things over that way so the bugs will chase them and get away from us,” the Doctor told him.

 

James typed in a quick command and the repair drones zipped away to another tree, through the wall of bugs that were trying to stop them.  The entire swarm went after them, leaving James and the Doctor out in the open.  The Doctor added a couple more commands before tapping the large red button that would capture the bugs.

 

A sphere of fire suddenly engulfed the entire swarm as well as James’ repair drones.  It hovered in the air, the bugs banging against the inner wall and fizzling out as if flying into a bug zapper.

 

“Really, dad? A firewall?” James groaned.

 

The Doctor merely smiled proudly at his construct.  Rose would like it, he was sure.  He set the firewall to disable the entire program, then it would remain in the Matrix to search out any other rogue elements and contain them as well to prevent future problems.

 

“Can we get out of here now? So we can make sure the rest of the Time Lords know how to keep this stuff running?” James asked.

 

“Yup.  Although I really don’t want to rush back just so that they can make us participate in their political nonsense.  And you might want to restart your repair program before we leave too.”

 

The Doctor opened his eyes to meet the worried gaze of his wife.  She was wringing her hands and he could feel her unease over their bond very clearly.

 

“What’s the matter?” he wondered.

 

“What’s the matter? It’s been hours! God, I was so worried about the two of you!” Rose cried, throwing herself into his arms as he removed the device from his head and stood to stretch his legs.

 

James stood up as well, greeted by his wife and daughter.  “It didn’t feel that long,” he protested.

 

“Oh it was long enough,” River sighed, equally relieved that they were alright.

 

“Thank you, Doctor,” Romana told him.  “Once again, you’ve saved us.”

 

“Of course.  But this just happened, it wasn’t why you called us here to begin with.  So, what did you really want?” he questioned.

 

“I think we should have a little chat,” Rose interjected before Romana could make her request.  They needed to make some decisions before getting embroiled back in Time Lord politics.  If they couldn’t even settle on their own morality, they couldn’t guide anyone else through theirs.


	14. Morality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this story, and this series. It's been really long and I think it's time. Thanks for reading the whole thing!

Rose found a small conference room nearby and led her family inside, closing the door behind them.  Rose paced nervously as they all found places to sit for this discussion.

 

“They want our help in setting up their rules and guidelines for relations with the rest of the universe,” Rose explained.  “Romana said that they used to believe in non-interference until the Celestial Intervention Agency was started, then they became the supreme police for everyone.  She doesn’t seem happy with either option and she wants our opinion.”

 

“I thought that might be what this was about,” the Doctor sighed.

 

He slumped heavily into a nearby chair and put his feet up on the large conference table.  Crossing his ankles, the Doctor looked up at the ceiling as he considered just what they should say to the council.

 

“And because you’ve always been the one to save their butts in both situations, Romana wants to know how you might prevent the problems in the first place, right?” James reasoned.

 

“So it would seem,” he agreed.

 

“Well, avoiding trouble isn’t exactly your strong suit,” River argued.

 

“Not even my preferred state,” he added.

 

“No, we’re definitely in the middle of trouble, but this is a chance to help shape some attitudes.  Doctor, you always told me how much you didn’t like their rules and pompous attitudes.  Now they’re asking you to guide them away from exactly those things, they just don’t know how,” Rose said.

 

“True, but I can’t encourage them all to poke their noses in the way we do.  I planet full of nearly immortal trouble makers is more than the universe can handle,” he countered.

 

“Granted, but maybe what they need isn’t your way of dealing with things so much as why,” Clara suggested.

 

They stayed in their private meeting for an hour or so as they discussed all of the hows and whys of their lifestyle.  Not only for the sake of helping to shape this new Time Lord society, but also to reassure themselves that what they did throughout the universe, wasn’t just spreading their own brand of chaos, but was the right thing to do.  When they finally emerged, Romana was pacing the hallway and glanced up at the sound of the door opening.

 

“Are you ready?” she asked.

 

“We’re ready, Romana.  Lead the way,” Rose assured her.

 

The council had stopped their meeting when the emergency with the Matrix occurred, so they were now called back together to discuss their original purpose.  The Doctor’s family entered and was brought before the governing council.  They saw a mix of the people they had saved from Gallifrey, along with some of the planet’s colonists.  Romana took her seat in the middle, apparently still the appointed leader, if not President.

 

“We welcome you, Lord Doctor, Lady Rose Tyler, Lord James Tyler, Lady River Tyler, and Lady Clara Tyler. As current head of the Council of Trenzalore, I Romanadvoratrelundar, have asked that your esteemed advice be consulted on the formation of our Charter on Relations through Time and Space.  As you know, Gallifrey of old held strong to their code of non-interference in word, but had long since declared itself superior in the universe and therefore responsible for steering events to their will.  The survivors of the Time War that resulted from those beliefs, along with our newfound friends, hope for a better way.  We look to you, dear friends, for guidance,” Romana explained.

 

“Thank you, Romana, for your confidence in my abilities.  However, having travelled with me for some time, I’m sure you realize that preventing trouble and having a plan, aren’t exactly my forte,” the Doctor told her with a smirk.  “However, after a lengthy discussion with the rest of my family, we’ve decided that there are a few things we can share to help.”

 

Rose stepped forward to address the group.  “We certainly don’t want to encourage all of you to go running across the universe the way we do.  Blindly landing in the middle of a rebellion and getting tossed in jail might be our daily routine, but it certainly isn’t for everyone.  That being said, we’ve seen your little garden of baby TARDISes and we think that you should have a few representatives of your society visiting other places and making friends, especially in the nearby systems.  Meet your neighbours and find some allies.”

 

“When you do meet those people, there might be a few that aren’t very nice,” James added.  “If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that there are some very cruel people out there.  But there are also some really amazing people too.  Don’t let individuals sway your opinions of a whole race, and try not to end up on the oppressing side of a conflict.  There’s one thing that we always do; Stand up for the little guys.  As a group, you need to establish a shared code of right and wrong. Make sure that you can agree on that so that you have something to stand behind as a group.”

 

River took her husband’s hand as she said, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  From each other, from your allies, and from us.  You said yourself that the Doctor has often come to the aid of the Time Lords.  He and the rest of his family are still here to help if you need us, as we hope that you will be willing to help us from time to time should we need it.”

 

“None of us really know much about Gallifrey,” Clara interjected.  “We spent most of our lives on Earth or roaming the universe.  We know how hard it will be for all of you to make a change from the rigid society that you’re used to.  But this is an opportunity to make a fresh start and prevent another tragedy, like the Time War, from happening again.”

 

“I don’t have a magic plan to set out for you, Romana,” the Doctor admitted.  “You know I don’t make plans or follow rules in general.  I don’t do things because they’re easy, because they make everyone happy, or because they’re safe.  I make the tough choices and make a stand because I believe in being good, fair, and most of all, kind.”

 

“Thank you, Doctor.  You have given us a lot to consider and I hope that your family will stay on Trenzalore for a while as these discussions continue?” Romana asked hopefully.

 

The Doctor groaned and rolled his eyes.  Rose giggled and took his arm as she agreed that they could stay for a little while.  They were offered rooms in his mother’s house and took the opportunity to visit and get to know his Gallifreyan family while they were there.

 

*****

 

The Doctor and Rose were lying awake in the large bed of one of the guest rooms in his mother’s home.  They’d shared a lovely supper with his friends and family, discussed the differences between how he was raised on Gallifrey to how they had raised their children, in the TARDIS and on Earth.  His family was surprisingly accepting, having long ago given up trying to understand or change the Doctor and his ways.  Rose felt that they were growing to really be a part of that family too.

 

“You smell so good,” the Doctor mumbled as he nuzzled her neck and pulled her body closer to his.

 

Rose hummed happily.  “Wish I felt so good.  I’ve been nauseous all day,” she grumbled, settling into his arms to find a comfortable position.

 

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” he asked, reaching to grab his sonic and run a quick scan.

 

“Wasn’t anything serious, just a bit queasy, you know,” she replied.

“But that’s-” he gasped as he stared at the results of his scan for a moment.  Dropping the sonic on the floor, the Doctor leaned over and licked Rose’s neck at her pulse point.

 

“What?” Rose squeaked. “What are you doing, Doctor?”

 

“Oh, Rose,” he sighed. “Finally.”

 

Whatever he was going on about, it didn’t seem to be anything bad, but Rose wasn’t quite sure what to make of it since he hadn’t said exactly what his scan or licking had told him.

 

“Finally, what? Doctor, what is it?” she insisted, trying to turn and look at his face, but her husband had decided that snuggling her as close as possible was preferable to anything else in the universe for the moment.

 

“We did it, darling. After centuries of trying for another miracle, we’re pregnant,” he whispered in her ear, caressing her tummy reverently.

 

Rose gasped as her recent symptoms suddenly made sense, along with his rather intimate check of her hormone levels with his tongue.  She hadn’t been licked in quite that way since he wore pinstripes.

 

“I’m so glad we have a TARDIS this time around.  Dealing with cravings for foods not on Earth was really difficult the last time,” she told him with a smile.

 

“I’ll take you to the edges of the universe to get anything you’d like, my love.”


End file.
